Fatestay Warcraft: The Lifebringer
by Minaly22
Summary: The Holy Grail War finally ended, but Shirou never gets a break. The Grail did not wish to go alone, and consumed him along with his friends. He was confused when he woke up in a place he didn't recognize. The Wheels of Fate are turning, what changes will this (Fake) Hero bring? Will he bring Life, or Death? M for safety. Slight AU, possible OOC, possible OC.
1. Where Am I?

**Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Fate/stay night or any Blizzard related merchandise. Now stop trying to be silly and sue me.**

 _This story is Rated M for safety reasons. I might spontaneously add in mature content such as violent imagery ranging from bloody fights, torture, or physical/mental abuse as well as lemon or other contents not recommended for youth below certain ages. You have been warned._

 _Hello everyone, this is Minaly22. This is my first time to ever write an actual fanfiction. Most of my writing consist of random ideas floating through the air. Please bear with me, and I hope you enjoy the story._

 _2015/5/5 Update: Oh dear, I completely botched up several sections. Now we know that they are in Caer Darrow._

* * *

The Holy Grail War was **finally** over.

The past week was extremely hectic in Shirou's humble opinion. Hero's of ancient past coming to life? A war over an omnipotent wishing device? A future version of himself coming to the past to kill him? His supposed step sister of a Loli trying to kill him again and again? Rescuing his friend from her tyrannical and abusive foster family? Battling the embodiment of All the World's Evil?

 _'Phew,'_ Shirou thought to himself relieved and a touch bewildered. He couldn't believe he had actually managed to survive through this extremely tiring week. _'I certainly deserve a break from all of this...'_

But even though all of the battle and hardship has ended, its still not completely over yet.

Shirou gazed upon the towering black monstrosity that was supposed to be the Holy Grail that Magus over several generations sought after; and didn't bother to curb his distaste before it bloomed on his face as a grimace. _'I would never understand why someone would want this thing...'_ Its probably another sign of how he was definitely unlike any average Magus, for an average Magus would be salivating from just the thought of standing before the Holy Grail, tainted or not.

"What are you spacing out for Shirou? Get on with it and destroy that thing already!" Rin exclaimed heatedly and snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Rin..." Shirou couldn't help but stare at Rin when he turned to face her.

She was wearing her usual red turtleneck, black skirt and long black socks with brown shoes. But even if she's wearing the same clothes when she first revealed herself to be a Magus, Shirou was having a hard time to recognize the young lady in front of him.

Rin has grown much more out-going and confident, her facial expression no longer schooled and restrained into an uncaring cold mask; now it is painted with fiery determination touched with hints of annoyance and exasperation. She was tested and became something new, something better as the war escalated. And finding out that she was not alone in this world after rescuing Sakura, has given way to even more changes to Rin as a person. The Rin he once knew would not have hesitated to make a wish right there and then, in front of the 'Holy' Grail, and probably wouldn't have cared if the world was destroyed as a result. Now, she understood that living was more about being a Magus, more than being someone that wanted to pick apart the very mysteries of the world, and intends to live her life to the fullest after this entire spectacle ends. All it would take would be for them to destroy the grail right now to fulfill that wish.

"She is right, Shirou. We have to destroy it quickly." Saber... No, Arturia's stoic tone floated through the air from his right side.

"Arturia..." This time, Shirou turned towards the ever stone faced Arturia.

During the beginning of the war, she was cold. Cold as steel would have described the King of Camelot perfectly, but she too has changed. The battle-hardened woman had constantly reminded Shirou the dangers of battle when he was still that naïve pacifist, not wanting to do anything in regards of the war. Arturia didn't have to do that even if it promotes her own chances of victory in this war, but she did it anyway because she cared for her master. She forewent things such as food or rest just to stand guard over him, and patiently trained with him so he could learn to protect himself. Arturia has also learned to smile again, and Shirou would always carve the first smile he saw into his very soul, for it was beautiful beyond description. Now, even when she is putting up a stoic front, Shirou could still see through the mask and discern her emotions through the little hints all around her. Strangely, he found peace in Arturia.

How Shirou managed to find peace when seeing the hands on her sword, Excalibur, lax when compared to a death grip during battle; still held it firmly in place, ready to engage any new threat to that may or may not exist. Or how Arturia's shoulders were sagging slightly out of exhaustion, and if Shirou hadn't known where to look, would have missed it completely, (But truthfully, he couldn't blame her. His legs were shaking from trying to stand straight) to be able to find peace is a complete mystery.

"You can do it Senpai, we all believe in you." And his thoughts were broken once again from hearing Sakura talking to him.

"Sakura..." Shirou had thought Sakura to be a happy person, free of the burdens of being a Magus or a participant of the Holy Grail War. Smiling and ever cheerful. Oh boy was he **wrong**...

Now he realized that the smiles he was given prior the War were not always genuine, but mostly out of habit from hiding her own pain from him. His heart felt a stab of guilt just then; to think that Sakura was suffering right in front of his eyes, and he was completely blind to it, drove the fact that he would never be able to save everyone very deep into his heart.

 _'Illya...'_ and he turned to look at his step-sister, older than him by decades, yet with the body of a child below the age of 10, lying peacefully in his arms.

Illya too, had suffered. And her suffering was caused by her own family; himself included.

 _'Never again!'_ Shirou vowed to himself. He managed to save Sakura and Illya from their terrible fates, but he knew that the future had many hardships in store for them. And the future wouldn't begin if he doesn't finish what he is doing now.

So he resolutely turned to face the black towering monstrosity that was the Holy Grail.

"Arturia, please fulfill your role." The last of the command seal on his left hand lit up, and slowly disappeared as a glitter of red. The red glitter then flowed into Arturia, and feeling empowered by the command seal, washing away the fatigue from the last battle, she raised Excalibur high into the air.

With an anti-climatic downward slash and flash of light, it cut the Holy Grail in half just as the dawn was rising. There was no war-cry when Arturia swung Excalibur, she emitted a sound that was more like a huff than anything. Nor was there there any sound of destruction and crumbling structure when the grail broke apart.

It simply vanished.

And as if stepping in on a cue, the glorious sun arise with the dawn pink sky. Seemingly to its own accord, Arturia's tight bun became undone, and the golden strands danced in the winds of morning air with a will of their own.

It was eerily quiet.

"We did it... We finally did it!" Rin's voice broke the silence after a while, and it was filled with relief and disbelief. She never thought that she would ever see the Holy Grail, not to mention be the person who helped destroying it. But she did not regret a single moment of it.

"Yeah... Its all over now..." my body was also swamped by the exhaustion and relief I felt from finally ending this particularly nasty chapter of my life with the help of my friends. I started to feel the bond binding between Arturia and I together to slowly fade out.

Arturia stepped forward and stood on the hill in front of him, facing towards the rising sun and away from Shirou.

"I defeated the enemy as your sword, and protected your life. I am glad that I was able to keep this promise." Arturia's gaze was fixed on the distant horizon. Shirou wondered what she was looking at. Was it something that can be perceived by physical eyes, such as the sky or the sun? Or is it more metaphysical, like a brighter future?

"Yes... You did well." Shirou whispered hoarsely.

"I must tell you... one last thing." Arturia sounded hesitant, and forlorn. She slowly turned around, her emerald green eyes locked onto Shirou's golden-brown ones.

"Shirou, I... love you." Arturia gave him a somewhat timid smile, and Shirou saw from her eyes and knew that she had so much more to tell him, but simply couldn't.

 _'The eyes are indeed windows to the soul...'_ Shirou thought to himself. And tried his best to open his soul to Arturia as well. He isn't sure if it worked, but he willed his eyes to communicate with her wordlessly, to show Arturia his own.

They simply looked into each other's eyes for a few moments, until the brilliant beams of light from the sun behind Arturia made it harder and harder for Shirou to look directly at her.

Shirou was tempted to look away when the sun blinded him completely, but chose not to and simply squinted his eyes. He saw parts of Arturia's body seemingly melt into the light...

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" and Sakura's deafening scream was the last thing he knew...

...before absolute darkness took over.

* * *

Medivh wandered through the Twisting Nether, trying to find more clues regarding the whereabouts of the Burning Legion.

He could feel the formless and chaotic energy of the Twisting Nether, as he floated around aimlessly. Normally when he is here, he just has to find an anomaly that is related to the Burning Legion, since he can recognize their darkness. His mind had been corrupted before, and felt extremely ashamed with what he had done; thinking back on the time when he felt his mind being slow and muddled, as if wading through the wet lands of Zangarmarsh, while also constantly being pulled into dark thoughts, made him burn slightly in shame and anger. But in the Twisting Nether, he shouldn't be simpering on the negativity he brought to his world. Now knowing exactly how the influence of the Burning Legion feels like, he could easily find traces of their residue corruption in the Twisting Nether.

This time, there was something particularly strong, and deep within Medivh, something he hadn't felt for ages, 'something right' compelled him to try and hurry to wherever it is he is heading to. It had a darkness very similar to the Burning Legion.

Picking up his speed, Medivh floated quickly towards the direction his senses was telling him to go to. He wasn't sure how long it took (because in the Twisting Nether, time is very volatile) but eventually stumbled upon something very strange indeed.

Or rather, somebodies.

Right in front of his eyes, there was a floating body of a young boy and several girls wearing strange garments he has never seen before. The sight of a blonde armored woman helped Medivh to stop himself from giving a double-take or rub his eyes to make sure he wasn't making up anything regarding the appearance of the other young humans, but he still couldn't shake everything off so easily. Armor feels more familiar to him than those strange outfits the other three are wearing.

But figuring that these mysterious youth are connected to whatever he was looking for (or was actually the thing he was looking for), decided to get them out of the Twisting Nether as soon as possible. Normal humans would never be able to last long in the Twisting Nether without additional protection.

Opening a Portal to his tower in Karazhan, he floated the boy and the girls past the portal and into his domain. Medivh then steeled his will and took a customary deep breathe (how he did so still baffled him, as the Twisting Nether didn't exactly have air) before stepping through the portal.

* * *

Shirou felt pain being the first sensation that pierced through the darkness of his unconsciousness, and tried to open his eyes.

He later regretted that decision when his unaccustomed eyes were assaulted by bright sunlight, but that managed to give his body a kick start and all his other sensations began to slowly come to.

And his personal quirk of being able to smell magic went on over drive the moment the dizziness from the intense light subsided. Wooden furniture, and metallic door hinges, glass, and oddly enough fresh air that are normally impossible to have in a modern city. He never smelled anything this... 'fresh' before. Fuyuki was still a city, and in a city you simply can't prevent air pollution. Even the forests surrounding the Einzbern mansion or Ryuudouji Temple didn't make the air feel like this.

Shirou gave whatever place he was in another sniff, and deemed it to be safe enough to relax slightly. He let out a puff of air, and tried to think back on what happened.

He remembered Arturia destroying the Holy Grail, her proclamation of love, and then the ear splitting shriek from Sakura. After that... was absolutely nothing.

Frowning, Shirou tried to move his aching body to sit as he finally opened his eyes to the sight of wooden ceiling right above him. Gritting his teeth to power through the pains, he sat up and looked around, slowly twisting his aching neck to not cause any further pain.

He was sleeping on a simple wooden bed inside a long room that had even more beds on the sides around him as well as the side across him. It was like one of those old-time nurse infirmaries one would see on WWII movies. There were windows directly above him that admitted rays of sunshine into the room, and it unfortunately was shooting right into his eyes. Eyes still sensitive to light from closing for so long, it was quite painful for him so Shirou decided to just lay back down.

Shirou closed his eyes, feeling more tired than ever, and let out a long sigh.

 _'What happened?'_ He thought to himself.

Before he could think about his current state, Shirou was startled by a scream from outside from where ever he is right now. It was a high pitched scream of terror that could only be possible from a grown woman.

Now he was just plain confused. He would have frowned in frustration if he actually had the energy to do so, but now he was too tired. The scream just now however was really bothering him...

 _'Wait. Why am I thinking about some unknown female screaming in broad day light, when I am just stuck here, not being able to do anything?'_ Shirou was a bit annoyed with himself. Here he was, tired, alone, and aching; lying on a medical bed in an unknown location feeling as if he got thrown under a steamroller and squashed repeatedly. And it took him less time to think about something else rather than his friends... Oh no! His missing friends!

 _'Where are the others? Are they here?'_ He wondered.

Doing his best to sit up once again; this time taking it just as slowly as before, Shirou looked around the hall of beds and came to the realization that all the other beds were in pristine condition void of dust. No signs of anyone having slept on them at all, such as crinkled bed sheets or ruffled pillows still dented from someone placing their head on it.

 _'At least that answered the question...'_ So no one had been around, and no one would probably come back any time soon.

But are his friends alright?

This, he couldn't answer. And the fact he can't is grating on his nerves. He was supposed to **protect them**! How is he going to do so if he doesn't even know where they are?

What if they are... dead?

This thought sent down disturbing chills to his bones. And he decided to discard that line of thought entirely.

Another scream tore through the air and broke his musings, although this time it wasn't a woman, but a man's. Say whatever you want, but Shirou had to admit that it was a manly scream despite it being slightly high pitched and also filled to the brim with fright.

And before Shirou could think about the screams further, another scream sounded from a different location, and another, and another... Until the entire place seemed to be filled with a chorus of terror stricken exclamation.

Shirou was sweating in panic from all of this. And despite having been slightly hardened from the Holy Grail War, was still unprepared for all that screaming. The fights during the war usually happened at night and there never had been this much screaming. The only time he had ever heard so much screaming was all but a distant memory, the great fire from long long ago...

The next sound that filled Shirou's ears however, completely blew his mind.

It was the rhythmic CLING! KLANG! of metal and steel clashing into one another. Then Warcries of every kind imaginable filled the air, grunts of exertion and pain were all over the place. Heavy footsteps coupled with ringing and rustling of metal indicates people wearing armor running about.

 _'What!?'_ Shirou was startled and baffled all at once. Where the heck was he? Its not like he landed in some medieval/renaissance fair, right?

Before he could think about it any further, the door of the hall bursted open with a loud **BANG!**

Two man and a woman wearing golden armor stormed to his side, one man and one woman hauled Shirou into the air, and proceeded to carry him out before he could even react.

"What is the situation with the gate?" The man that was not holding onto Shirou barked out.

"It's currently under siege. Our enemies followed the tracks of the refugees." The woman holding his arms replied.

"The Gate will hold for now," The man grabbing his ankles piped in.

"We will have to hurry to the deeper part of town and leave the lad there so we can go back to the gate." The man, clearly the leader, ordered in a clear voice.

Two "Yes Sir,"s was the last thing they said for a while, and the sound of booted feet frantically stamping on the ground filled the silence after the sound of battle slowly started to fade out as they went away from it.

The three people wearing golden armor made quick way to the who-knows-where, and Shirou not being able to do anything but look upwards, was greeted with the sight of another wooden ceiling. The infirmary he came from was eerily silent and empty, and in contrast to the one he just went into, would probably be considered as peaceful.

The whole place was filled with smells of metal and herbs. The metallic smell is a mix of blood and discarded armor pieces, while herbs are obviously from the medicine and whatever healing concoction that was around. Sounds of painful moans and quick demands for more supplies ("Bring me more bandage!" "I need another Potion here!" "Hot water!") as well as panicked calls seeking for help were flying all over the place.

The three people who 'escorted' him into this place stood still and shuffled awkwardly for some reason

"There are no more empty beds anywhere, sir." A different woman called out to his left

"Then where do we place him?" The woman still holding his arms asked,

"We have placed rugs on the ground..." the woman that was probably the healer trailed off. But a moan of pain stopped her from finishing the sentence.

"Dammit! Not again!" the Healer seems to be frustrated over something and went on mumbling curses under her breath.

The three people wearing armor decided to go around looking for an empty spot on the ground and not bother the preoccupied healer.

"Master! Over here!" a youthful voice bellowed out

"Ah! Arthas! Report, would you?"

"Yes sir, I came to the infirmary to assist the healers under your orders. So far we have saved quite a few lives but we lost five of our comrades here." The person who was identified as Arthas replied, taking on a solemn tone when he mentioned the lives that had been lost.

"Who did we lose?"

"Mundo, Aria, Din, Erhart and Lopen."

"Ah, Mundo... I will miss him. He always loved to tinker with the Gnomes." The man holding his ankles lamented.

"And we would never hear Aria singing again. She had such a beautiful voice too..." The woman holding his arms said.

'Master' had let out a long sigh.

"It can't be helped, this is war."

"..."

"..."

"..."

A tense silence followed after that statement from the man. The two holding onto Shirou placed him onto the rug on the ground.

"Arthas, I want you to take care of this lad over here. He was the one we went to fetch."

"The guy who supposedly survived a big fire from one of the other villages?" Arthas couldn't help but question this fact,

"What? THIS is the person who got life threatening burns all over his body?" The woman who is no longer holding his arms asked in bewilderment.

"But the lad looks perfectly fine now! Not looking like a half-dead burnt corpse I might add." The man who held onto his ankles when hauling Shirou couldn't hide his surprise.

"Enough of that. We have to get back to the Gate!" The 'Master' barked out.

Again, Two crisp "Yes Sir"s sounded out.

They then proceeded to dash out of the crowded infirmary.

* * *

An awkward silence - as silent as it could be inside a busy infirmary full of injured warriors - stretched between Shirou and the blonde teenager that was called Arthas.

Shirou was not oblivious to the point that he couldn't feel the waves of curiosity rolling off the other person, nor was he trying to be impolite and ignore him.

But his mind was preoccupied with all the new information he has gathered so far, and it was not pretty.

So first of all he isn't in Fuyuki anymore, this much is obvious. After all, the first whiff of air he got was impossibly fresh to be even considered as modern city air before everything went down to hell. People in Fuyuki also didn't wear armor and wield metallic weaponry other than maybe combat knives. Nor is there a gate in it.

And second, he might be in the past and not in modern times now. Armor and metallic weaponry were all things of the past after all. All healing stations usually reek heavily of disinfectant or chemical medicine, not herbs.

From the looks of it, the 'Arthas' person that was currently sitting on the ground next to him, staring a hole through his head, is probably the Squire of the guy that was dishing out orders and rushing off to help the front lines. It would fit historically, since Squires were taken in by Knights when they are teenagers most of the time. Some exceptions are where they take very young Squires that haven't even reached ten years of age, but Arthas seemed to be the same age as him.

 _'A Squire that is fifteen-years-old?'_ Shirou questioned no one in particular in his mind. He couldn't really say anything about someone getting into a fighting career this early in their life, since he did participate in a freakish war with heroes of old... even if its without his consent at first.

Shirou moved his head enough that he can look at Arthas. It seems Arthas is distracted by something, and his lips were unconsciously moving as if he is mumbling something under his breath, since he didn't meet Shirou's eyes when his head moved and kept on staring straight ahead. The teenager had a head full of golden blond hair, not unlike Arturia's. They are semi-long by male standards, coming down to his chin. Shirou knew how to read lips after he got the memories from Archer, namely EMIYA, his future self; and he managed to figure out what Arthas is saying.

"Insufferable old man, treating me like a child." spoke Arthas voicelessly.

"I have been learning to fight ever since I was born! And what does he do? Stick me into an infirmary with a random peasant, and demanding me to take care of them." Shirou kind of wanted to feel offended by the 'random peasant' part, but found out he couldn't exactly find his anger after being lectured by Rin, who is much worse in terms of high-and-mighty-ness most of the time. He was kind of used to these kinds of degrading treatment.

Well, it was most likely that Arthas is a stuck up son of a noble that became a Squire at a very young age then. That fits the norm too.

Seeing the other teenager so absorbed in his foul mood, Shirou decided to do a self check-up and not initiate any conversation to be safe.

Doing a brief Structural Analysis on his body, Shirou confirmed the obvious fact that his limbs and organs were still perfectly intact, and despite having heard from the other people saying he was at one point covered in burns, still had his hair on top of his head.

Now that is a bit contradictory. Someone who's body was covered in burns should have their hair burned away as well.

Strangely, he couldn't find anything that could cause him any of the ache he is experiencing right now. The non-existent burns have all vanished, no bruises, and no other kinds of abnormalities to his physical body. So Shirou went ahead and took a deeper look into himself, namely, checking up on his magic circuits. What he found startled him enough to almost fly into the air horizontally. Almost.

His 27 magic circuits were filled with energy. They are completely full to the point they probably could burst open anytime now.

 _'No wonder I feel sore all over! My circuits are hurting from all the strain.'_ And this fact sent Shirou into a panic because he didn't want his circuits to all burn out due to energy overload.

Shirou started to frantically suck in air.

"Hey, Hey! Calm down! You are hyperventilating!" Cried Arthas on his side. It seems Shirou's frantical breathing has brought him out of his sulking.

But Arthas's attempt in calming him down was met by deaf ears.

 _'What is happening? I am suddenly back in the past, my circuits are about to explode, and what would happen if the energy overflows? Will my body explode as well?'_ Shirou's mind went racing hundred miles per second, and continued to suck in more breath than he let out.

Arthas was starting to panic as well. He couldn't possibly let his charge die on him right now! That would make his Master even more displeased with him, and if that is the case, would probably never let him fight on the front-lines.

So Arthas did the first thing on his mind.

He punched Shirou right in the face; **hard**.

"Ah-mph! What was that for!" Shirou grunted in pain.

"Calm down! You are not in danger right now." Arthas admonished, and grabbed Shirou's shoulders, ready to shake it if necessary.

Shirou closed his eyes and tried to bring his breathing under control. After a few moments, he felt better.

 _'...My circuits seem to slowly expand itself and assimilate the energy. I guess I will be fine for now. And if I am correct, whatever that caused this spike in my prana reserves also caused those burns on my body the others have mentioned.'_

Opening his eyes again, he met the pale ice blue eyes of Arthas.

"... Thank you." Shirou stated a bit awkwardly, and Arthas released his hold on his shoulders.

"Are you feeling better now?" Arthas inquired.

"I think so. I am only aching all over but nothing else." Shirou replied.

"I guess that's a good sign. Let me see if anything else is amiss." Arthas raised his hands as they began to glow with a golden light.

Shirou was startled by the almost casual use of magic before his eyes. Arthas did not chant any aria, or focus for a set moment of time, plus Shirou didn't find any mystic codes from where he can see.

"Whats the matter?" Arthas asked confusedly.

"Huh? Oh, uhm... Nothing." Shirou lamely tried to pass it off as nothing, seeing how Arthas didn't seem to care.

Arthas first started with his face, and Shirou could feel the pain from the punch earlier to fade away, and so Arthas slowly hovered his glowing hands over Shirou's torso, then moved them across his entire body in a snail pace, as if trying to detect any injury or malady through it. Arthas's hands did not falter any where, and his calm expression hasn't been broken yet, so Shirou assumed nothing was wrong.

After Arthas's hand finally hovered over the last part of his party that he hadn't checked (his feet), he re-positioned himself so he was kneeling over where Shirou could directly see him.

Arthas was also wearing armor, but the color seem to be much more muted and subtle than the other three people he met just now. There was much more silver and blue, as the golde ends up accentuating the armor instead of being the main color. Shirou guessed that only full fledged Knights could wear those almost entirely golden armor.

This still brings the question to how he used his magic though.

"How did you do that just now?" Shirou tried to ask as politely as possible. After all, during his time, asking someone else about their magic was something quite offensive. But he reasoned with himself that this is not his time, so he might as well try and gain as much information as he could.

"Oh, I was just using a weakened version of Holy Light on you to find out if you have any injuries. The spell's healing energy automatically seeks out injury you see; so hovering around someone's body would make it possible to detect obscure injuries." Arthas explained to him as if he was talking about the weather. But in Shirou's opinion, its actually a quite impressive spell.

"That... is good." Shirou was kicking himself for being such a lame conversationalist.

"Is this your first time seeing Holy magic?" Arthas asked curiously.

"Oh, yeah." Well, Shirou technically isn't lying. He has never seen 'Holy Magic' before, but he is no stranger to healing spells. God knows Tohsaka complains all the time when she's healing him, and always miss the unseen injuries because she normally couldn't find it by herself; even though those obscure injuries usually disappear on their own in time due to Avalon.

Speaking of Avalon, its probably why his burns all disappeared over night.

"You would probably see them a lot in the future. There are many people injured after all." And as if on cue, a cascade of golden light appeared on Shirou's right side. Several empty rugs away lay an injured women in plain armor (Shirou guessed that she isn't a Knight due to not wearing the trademark silver/golden armor) and a female healer casting a similar spell on the warrior.

Shirou watched how the injuries on the warrior's arm began to close under the glow of golden light right before his eyes. Wow! The speed of that healing! Rin's healing would never be able to compare!

It seems that whatever expression Shirou had right now gave him away to Arthas, as he registered the next few words.

"Don't let the simplicity fool you. Its a somewhat costly spell, and to use it repeatedly without a break could exhaust the caster. Personally, I need to stop after casting it thrice in a row."

True, and Shirou doubt that one could regrow a heart with that spell. Hip-Hip-Hora! to Avalon.

* * *

The rest of the day went by without any incidence. Shirou simply stayed where he is on the rug, and chatted with Arthas.

He managed to fish out some more information about this place.

Like a certain _'where the hell is he'_ information.

Shirou almost went into another hyperventilation phase when he heard he was no longer on earth. **Azeroth? Eastern Kingdoms? Lordaeron? Dalaran? Caer Darrow?**

He couldn't very well deny the fact that he isn't even on **Earth** anymore with all those unknown places, could he now? He has never heard any of those names in his short life so far, and from Arthas's description and summary of the exotic location he knew about, Shirou could definitely say with certainty that he is no longer on Earth. According to Arthas, he is currently inside Caer Darrow, a keep on an island surrounded by the biggest lake in Lordaeron.

After hearing that information, Shirou experimentally used some minor reinforcement on his fingers, to test how the magic in this world worked. Not wishing to risk his circuits from overloading, he only used the smallest amount of prana possible to do this. He tapped the ground with his reinforced fingers, and was rewarded with finger-shaped-dents on the wood board.

He then decided to reinforce various parts of his body, but let them stay stationary in case he destroyed the ground. The reinforcements wasted no prana, and were nearly effortless, with even better effects than a max powered reinforcement back on Earth. It seems that the world of Azeroth doesn't have any Counter Force like Gaia on Earth.

This opened up countless new ways for Shirou's magecraft to work, since he is no longer actively fighting against the Planet. Normally he would have been happy, ecstatic, even; but the weight of the situation smothered any positive feelings he has right now.

Arthas has told him how there are 'Orcs' on their door steps, attacking the settlement right now. He also explained a few of the monsters and threats to human in this world and how different races of people, like Gnomes, Dwarves and Elves banded together to create the "Alliance", which brought Shirou back to his friend's unknown whereabouts.

How did he get here? Is it related to the Grail? Hypothetically speaking, since they were all there together when Shirou was consumed by darkness, they should have all been transported. However, knowing the flimsy nature of magecraft on Earth in general, chances are they might have been separated in various different ways. Someone might have been sent to a different world other than Azeroth, a world without Oxygen or where there is no magic and rendering their capabilities of self-defense useless. Or on another location in Azeroth, thrown into the wilderness, unconscious while horrific monsters prowled around the place. Heck, there is even the possibility they are sent into the past or future of this world or another world to consider.

Shirou cut himself from thinking anymore depressing thoughts by forcefully coming to the conclusion: The chances of reuniting with his friends are extremely slim.

Which wasn't a smart thing to do, as it immediately threw him into a depressing funk.

Arthas at that moment was tired of Shirou's pestering anyway, and took a break to get some food and drinks for both of them.

The infirmary slowly became even more crowded as the battle raged on. A big majority of the rugs on the ground now have people lying on them, and the beds are reserved to people who need it the most. From what Shirou heard so far, the infirmary that he initially woke up in, is currently even more crowded. Arthas told him the reason why he was moved here.

"The battle is happening at the Gate. And there are chances they will find a way into the infirmary which is very close to the gate. Couldn't exactly risk placing defenseless people there. The heavily injured are sent here to the this infirmary, while people who need to take a break or have minor injuries that can be immediately treated stay at the other infirmary."

Shirou was affronted by the extremely tasteless and bland magically conjured food he got when Arthas came back. Apparently, people could actually make food out of thin air if they didn't mind the taste. After a structural analysis Shirou found out that the nutrition is still there, but there was almost nothing else. In Shirou's personal opinion, he will never consider them as food. But as consumable magical energy that had the same base function as food minus the taste.

His inner cook was slightly appeased when Arthas told him that experienced Mages (Shirou had to correct himself repeatedly to not call them Magi) can conjure food that taste like the real thing. He was still determined to never touch conjured food ever again though.

This opened up a new topic for Shirou to pester Arthas about, since he found out Mages don't know the Holy Light spell. How only Paladins knew them, and the Priests use a different spell called Flash Heal.

Arthas proceeded to explain the **'class'** system to Shirou, and he absentmindedly compared them with the 'Servant class system from the Holy Grail War'. A Hunter is definitely an Archer, but could also work with wild animals. A Paladin is a Saber with supportive abilities and don't always wield Swords. Warriors are Berserkers, Rouges are Assassins, Mages, Priests and Warlocks are Casters with different focus of magical abilities.

And depending on the race, some races simply can't make the cut to enter a certain class. Gnomes due to their small stature cannot wield bows effectively, because even though one could make a small bow to match their size, the bows would become utterly useless since there are no power in the shots. A Gnome will have to compensate by using magic or other avenues to match the power of a regular Human Hunter, and if that is the case, why not just be a Mage?

Shirou was extremely interested with all of those classes, but once again Arthas shot him down before he could voice the idea of learning everything.

"It is frowned upon to learn more abilities than one class even though it is theoretically possible. A Mage could study the theories behind the Holy Magic used by Priests and Paladins without problems, but only a Paladin or Priest have the right to actually learn the abilities and techniques. Even then, Paladin teachers and trainers will outright refuse to teach a Priest their skills."

It put a downer on his scholastic side, that's for sure.

Shirou and Arthas continued to talk about various things well into the night, and wouldn't have realized how late it was if not for the entrance of the 'Master' and the other two Paladins.

* * *

"Hiya! I see that you are well, lad." The ankle grabber greeted Shirou cheerfully.

"Ugh, that was awful. Its going to take a long time getting all this blood and grime out..." Mumbled the Arm pulling women.

"I have returned, Arthas." The 'Master' greeted Arthas directly.

"Welcome back, Master."

"Were you bored out of your mind?" If Shirou had not seen Arturia, he might have missed the slight teasing note in that statement. The 'Master' has the same stoic aura as her.

"You have no idea." Arthas rolled his eyes.

The three Paladins and Shirou fell into a fit of giggles from that statement.

"I am sorry, but I haven't caught any of your names?" Shirou decided to initiate the conversation this time.

And now that he thought about it, he hadn't even introduced himself to Arthas yet! The Japanese inside him cringed from the dis-respectfulness he displayed today.

 _'Hang on! What language were we talking in just now!?'_ Shirou couldn't believe he only just realized everyone was speaking in English. If Rin was anywhere nearby, she would be banging her head on a table or wall right now, and even Arturia and Sakura would be hard-pressed to stop themselves from doing facepalms. _'Dammit, I am so dense sometimes...'_ Alright, so the Japan inside slightly conceded to the point that since they are not in Japan, and not speaking Japanese, it has no place to dictate his actions. He was also secretly glad his adoptive father decided to drill the knowledge of several foreign language into his head when he was younger.

"My name is Shirou." So Shirou decided to forego telling others his last name. Plus, most peasants back in the day usually don't have a family name; telling them he has one would only rouse suspicion. He doesn't want anyone keeping too close of an eye on him for now.

"I am Nikolas, its nice to meet you Shirou." The Ankle Grabber introduced himself as Nikolas, and from what Shirou could see, he is a cheerful and upbeat man since he is smiling despite all the blood and gore on his armor.

"Joydee, pleasure." Joydee is a quiet and serious woman that doesn't seem to talk too much. Shirou was once again reminded of Arturia, and had to stop himself from wincing when a stab of longing hit him hard.

"And Greetings to you, Shirou. I am Uther the Lightbringer. This here is my Squire, Arthas Menethil." Uther raised his arms and placed them on Arthas's shoulders as he spoke.

"Oh, we completely forgot to introduce ourselves to each other... Whoops. Sorry." Arthas cringed.

But Shirou completely ignored Arthas's apology when his mind went into a shutdown after hearing the Master's name.

 _'UTHER!?'_ And Shirou promptly fell into another hyperventilation phase.

"Here he goes again... Hey Shirou, calm yourself." Uther released his hold on Arthas's shoulder and the teenage Squire quickly stepped forward to take hold of Shirou's shoulder, he proceeded to shake it.

" _'Here he goes again'_? Arthas, has Shirou been doing that more than once?" Frowned Uther as he asked Arthas bemusedly.

"Yup, the first time it happened I panicked and punched him in the face." Arthas admitted somewhat sheepishly, and Nikolas burst out laughing.

"Sh... Shut up! I healed him afterwards!" Arthas denied in vain with a blush on his face, but Nikolas simply laughed even harder. At this point, even Joydee was trying to hide her amusement.

"Don't worry Arthas, at least nothing bad has happened." Uther told Arthas as they watched Shirou compose himself again.

 _'Uther, the Lightbringer... Alright, so this person probably isn't Uther Pendragon. I can't find any physical similarities between him and Arturia. They are both stoic, but they give off different feelings to my sensor.'_ But Shirou wasn't exactly positive, since Arturia as a Heroic Spirit definitely wouldn't feel like a normal human being regardless of heritage.

But he decided to leave those thoughts to another day.

"So how did the battle go?" Arthas asked Uther.

"Bloody." Nikolas piped in on the side.

"Noisy." Joydee added

"You don't want to know." Uther concluded.

But those were clearly the wrong things to say, as Arthas adopted a furious expression, his ears were starting to go red as well.

Not wanting the teenage Squire to explode, Uther quickly tried to salvage the situation.

"Arthas, fighting in general simply isn't pretty. I know that those dwarfs have told you about Honor and Glory and what not. But those things don't exist on a battlefield."

The teen Squire still looked displeased, but somehow forced his anger down.

Shirou simply thought that to be unhealthy; bottling emotion inside never did good on anyone.

"Its all about who dies and who doesn't. Blood and pain up there are guaranteed. And people who have actually seen such carnage usually wish to un-see everything." Uther continued Solemnly.

"You saw what happened to those five people who died here in the infirmary up close, Arthas. How did it feel, when those lives slip away?" Uther asked.

"...Sorrow, and injustice." Arthas still seemed angry, but answered his Master calmly.

"Its painful, isn't? When people witness the passing of a life, it leaves a terrible mark on them. Just imagine watching a whole army of people dying before you. Battles and Warfare are never fun, Arthas." Uther is doing his best to try and break down this anger inside Arthas with words of wisdom.

"..." Arthas simply didn't say anything, but Shirou noticed how the teenage Squire's face seem to go pale and turn green in a split second.

Seeing that he made is point, Uther turned back to Shirou.

"How are you feeling lad?" Uther asked gently.

Finally being able to have a close up look at the man, Shirou liked what he saw.

Uther had auburn hair that was a few shades darker than Shirou's own hair; halfway between red and brown. He also had pale blue eyes like Arthas. Probably a trait for the humans in this world to have, since Nikolas and Joydee also have blue eyes. There is a beard and mustache on his face, with the beard completely whitened out, and some white peppered his auburn mustache.

Another look made Shirou correct his assumption regarding the 'entirely golden armor' he made on his first impression. It was a silver colored armor with tons of golden outlines everywhere that it almost made it look gold. There are also blue gems dotting the entire ensemble, and a big blue cape draped across his left shoulder while a clasp is on the right. There is a crest of golden C, with a sword stabbing into the middle of the letter much like the $ symbol for dollars in America. There is a gigantic book attached by a chain to his hip as well.

"Sore, but generally Ok." Shirou tried to smile at the man. But it quickly turned into a grimace as another stab of pain hit his body. Damn, even though he felt sure his circuits wouldn't explode on him, it was still pretty painful.

"Master, I have already checked him over, but there doesn't seem to be any injury. I believe he will be fine with enough rest." Arthas interjected.

"Then let us not bother him any longer, rest well Shirou. We should go and rest up as well."

The three Paladins, followed by a Squire, swiftly left the infirmary.

 _'Might as well sleep now...'_ Shirou thought to himself. The infirmary has mostly gone quiet once the battle winded down.

So he closed his eyes, and dreamed of being reunited with his friends.

* * *

The next day was not much different for Shirou. He just stayed on the rug in the infirmary and rested.

Arthas frequently visited him, but he always had to swiftly depart. Something about finishing menial tasks like cleaning armor or gathering supplies assigned by Uther.

The other healers in the infirmary just kept buzzing around, and Arthas also had to help around when they needed more healers.

Like at one time, Arthas was called to help heal a man who lost an arm. The man got infection and was burning high with a fever, struggling and squirming. He reopened most of his injuries, but most of the other healers were busy with someone else. Arthas helped stabilize the man's injury while the healer took control of the fever.

The man who lost his arm would have definitely died if Arthas wasn't there to help.

When Shirou talked with Arthas, he could see that this action has benefited Arthas's confidence in himself after the talk from yesterday. Being exposed to the ugliness of battle usually diminishes ones self-worth after all.

But he didn't just rest all day, Oh no. He experimented with the prana inside him and came up with different theories about the things he has been exposed to so far.

Such as how something either managed to repair or strengthen his Magic Circuits into something entirely different, because when Shirou looked into himself again he was faced with the astounding revelation that his circuits are currently holding 500 unit of prana per circuit.

Shirou used to only be able to hold a maximum of 800 prana if he strained himself back in Fuyuki. Now he is easily holding 13,500 units of prana without feeling anything different. His circuits are continuously expanding itself even now, and he dare not think how much unit of prana he can hold by the end of the day. Its mind boggling and extremely alarming.

He looked around to confirm if the coast is clear. The people on the beds cannot see him if they don't sit up, and since all the people who occupy the beds are the critically injured, it was probably not a good idea for them to do so. The rugs around him are empty, since most of the lightly injured have been discharged or sleeping. The healers are too busy to pay attention to a stable patient like him to even look his way.

So Shirou decided to project a normal steel dagger. It is utterly plain, without any special ability or extraordinary history, made out of ordinary materials, made by an ordinary black smith.

He didn't want to aggravate his Magic Circuit right now by calling upon something big or costly.

The steel dagger didn't degrade the moment it completely entered the world, and neither did its innate quality degrade further by being projected. With another glance around, Shirou experimentally gave the dagger a few small swings. He peered into himself to check how much prana he needed to maintain the mystery, but couldn't discern anything when the number of Prana units inside him just continued to climb higher and higher without any sign of stopping soon.

He sent out even more Prana into the dagger to see if he could 'Break' the thing. He easily broke it with a tiny push of prana, and quickly removed the projected dagger from the world before it can explode into metallic shrapnel.

Since the process of 'Tracing' the dagger actually happens inside his Reality Marble, the Unlimited Blade Works, and is only realized through the action of Projection, the 'Traced' version of the dagger should have became nothing but shapeless Prana once the Projection fades and he stops the tracing process.

But it didn't.

Shirou was awkwardly holding a bent dagger in his hand.

 _'Impossible!'_ Shirou almost screamed in fright.

Projected objects are in no ways the real thing. Its like creating the picture of a certain object, and you cannot substitute a real desk with a picture of a desk for example. But somehow, his projection just became the real thing.

Shirou continued to stare at the 'Broken' dagger in his hand.

Did he just create objects out of thin air, like how Arthas mentioned the Mages could create food out of nothing?

Shirou still stared at the ordinary dagger in his hand.

 _'Well, technically, the Mages of Azeroth projected the image of Food instead of creating it. But still!'_

Shirou couldn't remove his eyes from the little dagger that changed his fate in his hand.

 _'Does this mean I can recreate Noble Phantasms in this world with naught but willing it into existence?'_

Shirou gawked at the ordinary dagger as if the gods created the thing just to mock him.

Finally catching up to the fact that he was looking like an idiot as his inner Tohsaka Rin admonished him, he tried his best to undo the creation of the dagger. He had to use extra effort to decompose it to actually get rid of it. Think of holding a flashlight, and the only way it would shine was for someone to hold the button. But in this case, the flashlight didn't stop giving off light when people stopped pressing the button, and they will have to go the extra step to remove the battery to stop it.

Not wishing to do anything regarding his new ability again, he went ahead to ponder on the magecraft of Azeroth instead of the magecraft of Earth.

Alright, maybe not magecraft of Azeroth. Magic of Azeroth.

 _'Who in the world could open up portals or teleport from thousands mind away?'_ Oh wait, almost all Mages in Azeroth could do that.

 _'Changing the composition of a living entity through polymorph, making a ferocious monster turn into a Sheep?'_ Science could replicate this effect to an extent, but this was still impressive.

 _'Calling down miracles such as Resurrection through the use of Holy Magic?'_ Well that is definitely nothing close to magecraft. Sorcery! SORCERY! How the hell can true Resurrection happen?

... Thinking about these absurd revelations gave him a headache.

So Shirou decided to just go back to sleep.

...

...

...

"WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!"

Shirou jolted awake.

* * *

 _Hello readers, thank you for reading this story._

 _I was startled when I got about 40 favorites/follows in a single day on my first serious fanfic ever; especially on a very unpopular category like Fate/stay night X Warcraft crossover. (I know people love the idea of this particular crossover in general, but since there aren't many people writing it, I just thought it was unpopular.)_

 _This chapter is about 9k words, and I am already 4k words on the second chapter. I am a fast writer, but the words are jumbled or makes no sense. So I take about 10% time to write the words, but 90% to smooth everything over._

 _Technically, if you guys want to read completely illegible crap, I could probably finish the whole story in a month._

 _But since I am not going to do that, this is going to take at least half a year to progress where I really want it to be._

 _Right now the whole story is at its infancy, and I am trying to set up everything perfectly to make things in the future work._

 _Gonna try my best to surprise everyone._


	2. Under Attack!

**Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Fate/stay night or any Blizzard related merchandise. Now stop trying to be silly and sue me.**

 _This story is Rated M for safety reasons. Although it will not be my main focus, I might spontaneously add in mature content such as violent imagery ranging from bloody fights, torture, or physical/mental abuse as well as foul language, lemon or other contents not recommended for youth below certain ages. You have been warned._

 _Hello everyone, this is Minaly22. This is the second chapter of the story. There will be a bit of bloody imagery but hopefully nothing over board._

 _PS: The previous chapter has been modified. I suggest you read through it again._

* * *

 _'Haaaah... I never get a break...'_ Shirou sighed dejectedly.

He twisted his head to the entrance, and saw Arthas standing there, leading a group of other Squires to evacuate the building.

"We must move, QUICKLY! They say the gate will fall any time now!" After finishing his announcements, he made a beeline towards Shirou.

The infirmary quickly fell into Chaos as patients were relocated by the Squires holding stretchers or giving a shoulder to lean on to people who can still somewhat walk, and Healers buzzing around carrying supplies or helping patients onto those Stretchers.

"Shirou, are you alright to walk?" Arthas cut him off from his observation once he was close enough.

He flexed his hand, twitched his arms and legs to detect any soreness or pain. There are still some of them lingering, but its manageable compared to when he tried to convert nerves into Magic Circuits or the first time he awoke in this world.

"Yeah, there are still some lingering pain but I can manage. Where to?" He shakily stood up from the rug, then gave a grateful smile to Arthas when he held out an arm for him to hang on.

"We will have to a hurry to the secret tunnel connecting to the other side of the island, then we board a ship to get out." Arthas guided Shirou towards the entrance, a bit quicker than the other patients since Shirou is simply unsteady but otherwise mobile.

"Alrigh -" But he was cut off by a mighty boom coming from the gate.

Both of them quickly twisted their heads, and stared at the gate.

 **BOOM!**

Another mighty boom sounded out, the gate shook.

The sunset sky gave everything a blood-like glow. It was absolutely unsettling. Shirou could feel his goosebumps all over his body.

"Damn, they somehow got close enough to the gate, and are probably using a ram to try break it down." Arthas frowned.

As they were about to turn around again, flying fire balls and flaming arrows flew in the sky. Although most of them did not fly to their direction, some still managed to hit the inside of the keep. Fire began to burn on where those attacks landed.

The two teens exchanged alarmed glances, then turned around as one.

'Seems like we think alike.' Was the thing that flew by both teen's minds. They began to swiftly make way to that side.

Well, in Shirou's case, as swiftly as an unsteady person could, anyway.

Once they reached closer to the gate, another CRASH! happened not too far away from them, but this time it was not the sound of a battering ram hitting the gate.

Shirou twisted his head to look all around, trying to find what made that big noise... He found what he was looking for a bit later, but he didn't like what he saw.

It seems a flying fireball hit one of the buildings close to the infirmary he first woke up in, and a steady fire was beginning to grow. If left alone, it will probably consume the infirmary quickly before everyone could get out. Worst case scenario, even if they won this fight, there wouldn't be a town left to defend.

Then right before their eyes, a few more flaming arrows hit a stack of hay on the other side, another fireball crashed into that flaming building again and it quickly became an inferno.

He knew that Arthas came into the same conclusion as him when he heard a sharp intake of air.

"Oh no, if we don't do something, people in the infirmary will be in danger." Shirou frantically told Arthas.

"But what can we do?" Arthas was at a loss.

"Is there a well or water source anywhere nearby?" Shirou suggested.

"Its too far away. It would be a losing battle if we do it that way." Arthas shook his head.

Shirou swore under his breathe, and he could feel Arthas shuffling uncomfortably.

"We might be able to contain the fire if there were Frost Mages around, but most of them are up on the garrison and towers. It might be too late if we call one from there and come back." Arthas suggested, but Shirou could see that even the other teen wouldn't think it could work.

Arthas quickly swallowed his words when he saw one of the injured from the infirmary shoot out a Frostbolt into the fire, diminishing it but not out right putting it out.

Then another Frostbolt from a different person shot out, and that particular section of fire was stopped. Steam and smoke rose from the burnt remains of the building.

Shirou gave a sigh of relief when he saw that the people in the infirmary might have a chance, until another hail of flaming arrows and fireballs crashed down.

One of the injured Mages had to stumble away to dodge those attacks, and then the previously dead fire began once more.

"It doesn't matter if they stop the fire from spreading - " Arthas mumbled under his breath.

" - If they don't stop attacking." And Shirou finished his sentence for him.

 _'Huh, we truly DO think alike.'_ Shirou gave a thoughtful frown.

"Are there any shielding spells that could stop those attacks from hitting the buildings?" Shirou inquired.

"There is Divine Shield, but its impossible to cast it repeatedly." Arthas grimaced

"How about we time it, where we only cast it once an attack is sure to hit a building or anywhere that could start a fire?" But Shirou was at his wit's end. If that is not going to work, he might have to 'create' a Noble Phantasm. But he doesn't really want to do that unless absolutely necessary.

"Not practical, but I guess we don't have a choice." Arthas unhooked their arms, and dashed into the infirmary again.

"EVERYONE! We need Frost Mages outside to stop the fire from spreading. Any one that can cast Shield spells should help. We have to stop the attacks from burning down more buildings." Shirou heard Arthas shout, and saw him come out of the building with a few people tailing behind him.

It was not exactly a good solution to their problems right now. Half of the people who volunteered to help are limping or shambling, and there were not as many Paladins or Squires as they would have liked. Most of the Squires were helping the injured get out.

This time a BOOM! from the gate made Shirou cringe. Standing so much closer to ground zero made him extremely anxious.

"Power Word: Shield!" A man wearing white and gold robes sent out a golden glow to surround a building to his front left when it was imminent the arrows were going to hit it. The arrows bounced off, and harmlessly fell to the ground.

"Spirits of Water! Heed my Call!" One of the purple robed man shouted out. And a SPLASH of water sounded out to his right. From within the pool of Azure blue water rose a figure vaguely shaped like a human body, with twin brass bracelets on its arms.

The Water Spirit, or whatever, quickly extinguished the flaming arrows on the ground by simply 'floating' over it, and shot a jet of water into a smoldering building.

So far so good...

"INCOMING!" Someone shouted, and Shirou quickly tore his eyes to the sky.

Several Fireballs rained down.

"Light Protect Me!" Arthas along with a few people wearing silver armor shouted out, and a golden shield made out of seemingly tangible light covered their bodies in a big halo. They then proceeded to dash into the line of fire, body blocking the Fireballs from doing any harm. One Fireball still went past them, and crashed into a different building. The white robed man who used Power Word: Shield managed to stop it from burning down completely, but the shield did not hold for long and some damage still went past it. The Water Spirit shot another jet of water to extinguish the small embers of fire.

More Fireballs crashed into Arthas and the other men, but the shields held on. They quickly retreated when the shields broke off on its own, seemingly on a time limit.

"That just now was Divine Shield, if you're curious!" Arthas shouted in his direction when he ran past Shirou.

More Power Word: Shield glowed on the buildings.

"INCOMING!" "Light Protect Me!" And once again the Paladins dashed forward.

Suddenly, a barrier made out of ice appeared in front of a Mage who was too slow to dodge away from a flying Fireball.

The barrier held, but from the expression on the Mage's face, its not easy to continuously maintain the spell. The Mage waved his hands in a sweeping gesture, and the barrier shattered, forming into several spears and shards of ice. Flying into the sky, managing to eliminate a few Fireballs before they could get any closer.

The defenders who saw this let out a cheer. And other people began to imitate this as well.

Some priests sent out a glowing bolt of light, slamming into a Fireball, it shattered into smaller embers that burned itself out harmlessly in the air.

 _'The situation seems to be under control, for now...'_ Shirou thought grimly. He had to compliment those people's precision and accuracy though. Shooting a moving target is always much harder than it looks, he would know since he does Archery, although he sometimes cheats by using Thaumaturgy to lock onto targets.

He kind of jinxed it when an Ice Lance flew by his ear. He cringed.

"Sorry~" A distant voice sheepishly called out.

This somehow looked like a game. A morbid game, sure, but still a game.

The Paladins have to tag Fireballs with Divine Shields, the Mages shooting ice or water to stop fire from spreading like target practice; and from what he could deduce, the people in white robes are priest casting shields on the building just in case as if throwing up a curtain to block paint bombs. However those glowing priest shields seem to be weak in comparison to the tangible Divine Shields of the Paladins, although it is true they appear more frequently than Divine Shields and last a tad bit longer. Curtains indeed.

But Shirou knew for a fact that they are going to tire very soon. Running around in full Armor or casting repeatedly without a break is taxing enough as it is. With most of the volunteers tired or injured, something is definitely going to give; sooner or later.

Shirou gazed at the infirmary entrance, and saw that most people have been evacuated already. There are still a few people inside, but its much better than before.

'At least the casualties wouldn't be too bad.' Going down in flames is a very painful way to go, and he was speaking from experience.

Would it be a better idea to retreat now and let the this part of town smolder silently, hope the fire doesn't spread too far, or risk their lives trying to prevent any more collateral damage from happening?

* * *

 _Fire._

 _So hot... Burning..._

 _Its every where. Everything..._

 _Fire. Burn. Hot. Hot. Hot, so hot, he is going to melt._

 _His fingers twitched and he tried to stand up, his body felt broken._

 _"SOMEONE! HELP!" A womanly scream tore through the night_

 _"MAMA! I'm scared!" A little girl's whine,_

 _"AAH! I'm on Fire!" a boy shouted_

 _"Please..." A man pleaded, but what did he plead for? Salvation? Or Death?_

 _He stood up on shaky legs._

 _Screams of anguish and moans of pain hammered on his ear drums,_

 _All the while, the world kept on burning._

 _Everything was covered in red._

* * *

"Shirou! Wake up! No time for Daydreams!" Arthas was standing beside him, waving a hand over his face.

"Huh?" Shirou was jolted out of his musings.

As Shirou came back to his senses, he realized the sky has already darkened. Enough that it was barely visible with the remaining light peaking over the horizon, if you discount the flaming buildings that is.

The defenders are clearly tired, if more than half of them kneeling or positioned strangely half way on the ground are any indication.

There are also less flying Frostbolts or glowing shields protecting the buildings now.

Another gigantic **BANG!** from the besieged gate rang through the air.

"We HAVE to get out of here! Someone reported that they are going to launch a big attack on the gate." Arthas frantically shouted over the roaring chaos of battle on the other side of the gate. Shirou saw the others picking themselves up , running or shambling to the deeper side once they heard the message, hoping to make it to the escape tunnels in time.

Grabbing a hold of Shirou's arms, Arthas tried to drag Shirou away.

But it was too late.

Several war horns went off - the tone extremely rough, and emitting a sound that could only be described as **wrong**.

Then a chorus of "LOK'TAR OGAR!" (Victory or Death!) sounded out just beyond the cracked gate. And the crashing sounds became more and more frequent.

 **BOOM! BOOM! BANG!**

Shirou could hear the gate crack again as the wood begins to fall apart, he tried to hasten his steps to get as far away from it as possible.

"HEEEEELP!"

But both Arthas and Shirou, along with a few of the nearby defenders froze when they heard a desperate cry coming from the Infirmary.

It seems the Infirmary was still not completely evacuated, and since the volunteers to control the fire have all quickly retreated, a corner of the Infirmary has caught on fire since there is smoke coming out from the entrance.

"There are still people inside!?" Shirou asked, alarmed.

"I don't know!? I didn't know!?" Arthas was equally as panicked as Shirou,

"HEEEELP ME! PLEASE!" They both abandoned all notions of self-preservation, then dashed into the flaming Infirmary.

The whole place was filled with smoke, and the visibility was too low for them to make out who was calling for help.

"Where are you!?" Arthas shouted

"Here! On the ground!" Both Shirou and Arthas twisted their head towards the left side of the Infirmary, and saw a girl wearing white robes on the ground, with a wooden beam right next to her.

"My leg is stuck! I can't move!" The girl cried desperately, and despite all the smoke in the air, there are visible tear trails on her face which indicated she had cried.

There was also someone else lying under the fallen beam.

"Don't worry, we will get both of you out of here." Shirou tried to sound as calm as possible, but in truth his heart was hammering so hard he feels like his chest is going to burn. The smoke inside his lungs also aren't making him feel any better.

A crash of wood and popping flame noises indicated that something had fallen behind him, but he didn't have time to look back.

Shirou went to touch the side of the beam that came in contact with the ground, but recoiled immediately.

"Argh!" The beam was really hot. And it burned his hands.

"I will handle this side, I got gauntlets." Arthas told him and moved towards him

Shirou quickly relocated himself to the side where it was closer to the fallen girl, and even though it was still hotter than he would have liked, it at least didn't burn his hands.

"On my mark," He could see Arthas tensing his muscles

"Heave! Ho!" Shirou discreetly reinforced himself to pull the beam upwards. As he suspected, the reinforcement costed almost nothing, and was so effortless it almost felt like a child's trick now. He easily lifted the beam into the air. Shirou was surprised that Arthas was strong enough to lift it on his end without any reinforcement; although Arthas's lift was noticeably lower than Shirou's, it was still impressive.

The girl quickly shuffled her trapped leg out from under the beam when she felt the pressure on her leg gone.

She grabbed onto the injured man's arm, and gave a harsh tug, effectively freeing him from the oppressive weight of the beam.

She gave out a cry of relief, and tried to stand up, but quickly collapsed back to the ground.

"I think its broken..." Then she started to sob in despair. "I don't want to die... *hic*"

Once Arthas let go of the beam, he stepped forward and lifted the girl in bridal hold, startling the girl out of her sorrow.

"We will make it out alive, I promise." He tried to calm down the girl, with limited success. The girl gave a nod and stopped crying, but she was still trembling and occasionally hiccuping in his arms.

Shirou pulled the injured man over his shoulders, then turned around. But froze up in terror.

"Erm, Arthas?" _'This is not good...'_ He gave an involuntary gulp.

The entrance of the infirmary was blocked by another fallen beam, and this time, the beam was entirely on fire. Lifting it out of the way was impossible.

And the smoke began to worsen, making Shirou cough.

Arthas scowled at the burning beam.

"Curses!" Arthas swore under his breath, but Shirou heard him clearly anyway.

 _'We are trapped! How are we going to get out now?'_ Shirou was panicking. His mind raced through the possible ways he could get out of this situation alive.

 _'Destroy the obstacle with a Noble Phantasm? I might end up bringing the whole place down if I am not careful. Trace a Water element Noble Phantasm to douse the beam, then lift it away? I don't think I have a water sword...'_ He decided to go look through his Unlimited Blades Work as fast as he could to see if anything else would pop out.

* * *

Diving into his inner psyche, he could feel the outside world to slow down as he began to fall deep down to his internal world.

He gently set foot upon the land of eternal twilight, swords standing tall and strong on the barren wastelands, and gigantic gears turning in the sky.

Normally he would take time to appreciate everything that is in here, as they are all parts of himself. But right now he was too preoccupied to do so.

Quickly moving his head in all directions, he tried to look for a suitable solution to his problems.

The usual Noble Phantasms he would use as a solution are all out of the count, they are too destructive. He isn't confident with himself that he could limit the power enough that it won't squash everyone from the collapsing building, plus there are also people outside waiting for them.

That makes about 70% of his main offensive weapons obsolete.

Shirou began walking around the wasteland, since the more frequently projected items would be closer to him when he enters the world, he might as well look through the things he doesn't usually project. Then he saw something he would never imagine to find inside his Unlimited Blade Works.

Usually, his Unlimited Blade Works stored weaponry of all kinds, ranging from Swords, Axes, Lances, Staves, Maces, Hammers, Bows, even Modern Firearms; and who knows what more.

 _'...I guess this is like the mundane object section?'_ He did a double take at that section of the wasteland. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he isn't hallucinating _'Heh, hallucinating inside your own inner world. Yeah right.'_ Shirou scoffed.

But this particular part of his inner world was filled with everyday objects instead of weapons. There is a toaster, an egg whipper, eating utensils like forks and spoons, cleaning utensils such as mops and brooms. There is a telephone, a water bottle, a screw drive, hammer, scissors, lamps, desks and chairs lying there. Countless more objects spread out from here, so it was safe to say that all manner of mundane objects are scattered around this part.

' _Wait, is that a frying pan? When did that get here?'_ Normally an ordinary frying pan wouldn't have caught his attention. But this particular frying pan stood out too much. It looked nothing like those modern frying pans he used when cooking. It was old and slightly rusty, made out of plain and semi-unrefined metal, there are also several suspiciously shaped dents on it... Dear Gaia, is that a bloodstain?

 _'Rapunzel's Frying Pan?'_ Somehow, that thing is a Noble Phantasm and its a Rank C too, the same as Taiga's Tora-Shinai.

Deciding to ignore the strange, unsettling frying pan inside his Unlimited Blade Works, he took a closer look at the other mundane objects, and his attention was caught by a musical instrument.

A Biwa to be exact.

One could call it the Asian version of a Lute. There are mainly two different kinds of Biwa, the Chinese type and the Japanese type. Shirou wasn't sure how he knew, but he could tell the one in front of him was a Japanese Biwa.

 _'What is a Biwa doing in here?'_ Shirou frowned in confusion.

 _'Huh?'_ And Shirou grew even more confused when he realized he was staring at a Rank EX noble phantasm.

Its name is Benzaiten's Five-String Biwa, and has the power to control 'all things that flow'. Natural Phenomena such as fluids (water, blood, other liquids), wind, sounds (music, song), words (such as speech, poetry) and 'flowing' energy can be easily manipulated.

'Jackpot!' finding what he was looking for, he quickly took hold of the Biwa and returned to the outside world.

* * *

"SHIROU! Now isn't the time to space out!" He heard Arthas shout right into his ears.

"Yowh! Please don't do that!" And reflexively raised a hand to cover his ear.

"We are in great danger, and what do you do? Stand still, stare straight ahead, and let the fire consume us?" Arthas was in an extremely foul mood. But who could blame him? They are in the middle of a burning building after all.

'Let's fix that issue. Trace... On!' Shirou's inner hammer stroke down, and the Biwa was projected right into his hand.

The Noble Phantasm was an elegant piece of art. The wood was of pure black ebony the color darkest night, with the firelight dancing on its contradictory shiny black surface. Two ivory crescent moons are carved out on the top of the pear shaped resonance chamber close to the head of the instrument where the strings are strung. The strings were of the highest quality silk, taut and ready for use.

It stood out like a sore thumb inside this raging inferno.

"What's that strange wooden thing you are holding? Kindle for the embers?" One could hear the sarcasm dripping from Arthas's words.

Shirou deftly dumped the guy on his shoulder back to the ground so he could free his hands... But he winced when the man fell onto the floor harder than he would have liked. _'Oops.'_

Arthas was going to open his mouth again to bite out a snarky remark when he was silenced by the music coming out from the 'strange wooden thing'.

 _'Thankfully the history of this Biwa showed me how to use it effectively.'_ Shirou thanked whatever entity watching over him that there was a song that could call forth waves of water recorded in this thing, and he doesn't need to learn how to play the instrument to actually use it, because he could copy the original owner's skills.

Let it not be said that Shirou's lack of music ability could wreck a Triangle. He also somehow ruined a Guitar, Flute and Accordion; he was stopped just in time before his hands reached the Piano.

Kiritsugu outright refused to let Shirou touch any kind of music instrument after that incident.

Water droplets began to form around Shirou as the music notes continued to flow out of the instrument, and soon turned into music-note-shaped constructs of water. Deciding that the pace of water gathering was going too slow to do what he wanted to do, Shirou upped the speed of the music, and his hands began to quickly dance over the strings.

Water appeared more quickly than before, and the music-note-shaped constructs of water then banded together to shoot out, landing right on the flaming beam blocking their escape. At first it just sizzled and the fire didn't seem to stop whatsoever, but as Shirou continued to play the instrument, and water continued to pour out, the flames on the beam surely grew weaker.

It took a few more moments for the fire on the beam to be completely extinguished, the beam now lies in a wide puddle of water.

Arthas, and the girl in his arms, was absolutely baffled. But Arthas didn't stop to ponder this strange change of events. He leapt over the now drenching-wet pillar, then ran through the open entrance.

Shirou picked up the unconscious man, pulled him over his shoulders again, and decided to follow after him to get out of this inferno.

* * *

 _'Ah damn...'_ The moment Shirou stepped clear of the fire, he knew that he was in deep trouble.

Countless Orcs were standing in front of the infirmary, with Arthas, himself and the girl making a dynamic entry by jumping out of a flaming building, they all have their heads twisted to face them.

The defenders who stood outside the burning infirmary to see if they could help the people trapped inside surrounded the building, and even though they knew they were facing impossible odds, did not run away. Shirou thought it was more likely they couldn't run away. _'Where could they run to in such a short time?'_

Despite the more noisy nature of the Orcs, everything was deathly quiet as the Orc army inside Caer Darrow simply stared at the trio and entourage. The broken gate of the keep hung uselessly on its abused hinges.

Shirou swore he heard the loose splinters from the gate fall to the ground.

He could see that Arthas was tense, and doing his best to stand still. The girl they saved who is still in his arms continued to shake in fear. Shirou commends her for not screaming everyone's ears off at that moment. The other defenders around the building also tried to stay calm.

...

...

...

 _'Why are they not attacking us?'_ Shirou's entire body was wound up like a tight spring in response to the tension in the air.

Some of the Orcs who are staring at them began to shuffle awkwardly, and threw glances at each other as if asking between themselves _'What to do?'_.

 _'Clearly, this was not part of their operation. Or else, why would they just stand there and not slaughter us on the spot?'_ Shirou reasoned to himself.

 _'Now is my chance!'_ Shirou raised his hands over the Rank EX Noble Phantasm...

The building behind Shirou collapsed completely, and let out a few loud noises.

As if an unknown signal was sent out, the silence broke down completely when the Orcs raised their weapons...

"AAAAAAAAAH!" The girl they just saved screamed at the top of her lungs and curled inward on herself.

 _'Saraswati Meltout!'_ And his hands harshly hit the five strings in a forceful downward strum, the motion oddly reminiscent of a rookie electric guitarist trying to rip the strings off.

A great deluge of water sprung out from below the Orcs, lifting several into the air through the gushing geysers. The deluge quickly turned into a whirlpool, dragging the previously unaffected (albeit wet) Orcs into the thing.

The Orcs were dragged through the flying tornado of water that began to twist and turn, sucking up more and more Orcs. They twisted helplessly against the water current and pressure, trying in vain to break free. Shirou could see that some of them were starting to run out of air due to the surprise of the attack; involuntarily sucking in air but end up taking more water into themselves.

Shirou was about to repeat his previous motion again when several voices shouted out at once in no particular order.

"Blizzard!"

"Blizzard!"

"Frozen Orb!"

"Water Elemental! Freeze!"

"Deep Freeze!"

The onslaught of Frost Magic started with a larger-than-average localized snow storm appearing right on top of the twisting waters. Hail and icicles rained down, striking whatever they could inside the whirlpool before the swift water current swept those away, turning into a lethal attack with deadly cold shrapnel, shredding the Orcs inside open if the blooming dark purple in the frigid blue was any indication.

Someone then shot a gigantic orb of Ice into the center of the madness. Shirou could see that the orb somehow stayed suspended at the core of the whirlpool, and the thing began to ice over. The ice was thin, much like a layer of frost growing over a pool of water during an autumn midnight. But then, the orb shatter into countless Ice Shards, shooting outwards and into the embrace of the water. The water grew even darker than before, and he could see hints of red splashing onto the ground nearby.

Then a 'Water Elemental' joined the fray. Shirou has no idea how it did it, but the twisting maelstrom was slowly turning into pure ice, and the water began to slow down. It wasn't quite completely frozen until the Deep Freeze came into play, and rendered the entire thing into an immobile twisting ice statue that is halfway between a pillar and a tornado. The color was a strange mix of blue, and purple.

All the humans just stared at it in awe.

The Orcs who were fortunate enough to escape this carnage simply scampered and ran back out of the gate.

Everyone just stayed quiet for a few more moments.

"Shatter!"

Until the carnage was revealed.

Under the command of the Mage, the ice shattered into big chunks and fell all over the place haphazardly, without any order or pattern.

The Orcs were sticking together, frozen solid, with expression of pure fear carved into their faces.

Some of them were not quite as fortunate, because arms and legs were separated as the ice chunks broke off, there were also a few that had their upper and lower body separated, leaving the 'insides' bare opened for everyone to see.

One ice chunk fell right in front of Arthas's feet, and it was an ice chunk that contained the head of an Orc inside it, the face clearly visible.

Arthas fell to his knees and vomited.

* * *

The Master of the Order of the Silver hand, Uther the Lightbringer was worried. He was extremely worried.

He gave clear orders for everyone to retreat, and all the civilians evacuated to Arthas.

Although he doesn't show it most of the time, he trusts Arthas to do a lot of things for him. Its been a while since he has seen such potential in someone so young. He was grateful for his friend Terenas when he sent the letter to him, asking if he could take the Prince under his wings.

From the short amount of time he has known Arthas, the Prince has shown him that he was capable, and resourceful. He showed eagerness to learn, was an excellent pupil when he puts his mind and heart into something. Even if he was sometimes petty and immature, as well as possessing the trademark arrogance of nobility, as well as the legendary Menethil Temper, Uther had utmost confidence that he will outgrow such tendencies in the future. In fact, he respects the young Prince very much to be able to control the legendary Menethil Temper so well. When Terenas was his age he always shouted at the top of his lungs in rage where ever he was.

But he was not happy that Arthas didn't quite follow his orders to the letter.

Normally it would have been fine, since he is certain that Arthas holds nothing but good intention in his heart. And sometimes Uther concedes to the fact that 'orders' are way too rigid in volatile situations that it is sometimes better to abandon orders so it is easier to adapt to circumstances.

However in this case, the orders are way important to the future as a whole for Arthas to completely ignore. Uther is also positive that Arthas knew better than breaking this order, since the Prince is very self conscious about his actions.

 _'Evacuate the citizens, tell people to help the injured escape, then get out of here as soon as you can.'_

Uther had the safety of his charge in mind when he said _'get out of here as soon as you can.'_ After all, Battles are always unpredictable, and who knows what could happen next. So he was at first relieved to see that most everyone got out unharmed and a bit proud of Arthas when he completed a mission soundly.

Until he realized Arthas is no where to be found.

He quickly interrogated the last few people who ran to the direction of the escape tunnels, and managed to gleam the fact that his young charge was stopping the fire from consuming the infirmary close to the gate.

Absolutely torn between anxiety of having him so close to ground zero and pride from protecting the week, Uther was understandably frazzled.

So he called up a group of his most trusted Knights to save their Prince from the clutches of their enemies. Before its too late -

"What in the Light is THAT!?" Uther was startled by the exclamation from Nikolas.

Right before his eyes, a gigantic water pillar shot off into the air, then began to twist into a mock tornado. Tell tale signs of a magically triggered Blizzard were also there.

"Hurry!" Uther barked out, and they ran even quicker than before towards the direction of the strange phenomena.

Chancing another glance upwards, he saw that the water was slowing freezing up, and was completely frozen just a few moments later.

Looking forward again, he willed his legs to run as fast as they could.

 _'Damn, I am really getting old...'_ Uther cursed his growing age. Even though he has been diligently keeping his shape up, there was no denying that he was not so young anymore. He was slower when he was in his prime. Not by much and probably unnoticeable to others, but he knew for a fact it is only going to get worse.

He stepped right into the field of vision to watch the ice pillar shatter. Thankfully, he and his group of Paladins were still far enough to not be in the blast zone and avoid flying ice chunks completely.

His mind went into overdrive however when he saw Arthas collapsing onto the ground.

"ARTHAS!"

* * *

"ARTHAS!"

Shirou snapped his head up and saw Uther, Nikolas and Joydee along with several other Paladins running their way.

Figuring that it is now or never, he quickly removed the Biwa that caused all this destruction from the world before anyone take notice of it.

 _'Rank EX Noble Phantasm...'_ Shirou mused sourly. He only 'copied' the technique Saraswati Meltout in a hurry so it was not done properly, making it less powerful as it could have been. He might be able to become better at it through practice too, since the copied history implied the Technique has only ever been done halfway by their users. The Benzaiten's Five-String Biwa is categorized as an Anti-World Noble Phantasm, and if used correctly, could probably drown the entire world with just a pluck of the string.

He shuddered from that thought.

 _'So effortlessly too...'_ There was no cost to maintain the Rank EX Phantasm that could potentially destroy the world except for the initial amount to trace the object, Prana used to summon water to douse fire and the Prana used to use Saraswati Meltout. And all those 'consumed Prana Units' added together is so minuscule when compared to before.

Another chill ran down his spine. He will have to be very very careful in the future with how he decides to use this new ability. Collateral damage not withstanding, he as a person is very uncomfortable when it comes to attracting attention. People would fear him for his mysterious powers, admire him for it, or even try to take advantage of them. Shirou doesn't want any of that.

Shirou then came to a stark realization.

 _'One misstep and he could unintentionally destroy the world...'_

This sentence continued to run over his mind, again and again and again. He gulped.

Thinking about all the innocent families he could kill with just the lift of a finger made him queasy.

What historical landmarks would never be seen again? How many nations will come to an end? How many races? How many lives? What could possibly justify such destruction?

Then the images of the great Fuyuki fire appeared in his mind again.

 _'On the other hand, if I had that power, would I have been able to save them?'_ Shirou felt conflicted.

 _"Shirou?"_

Sakura and Illya came to mind. Both had suffered so much.

 _"Shirou? Hey?"_

He was too weak to save them. He was too dense to see the signs of distress. Even if they were hiding it from them, he should have been able to see through it.

 _"Hellooooo?"_

It was only through the help of Rin and Arturia, and surprisingly, Archer, that they managed to pull everything off, if just barely. It was way too close.

 _'Weak, Pathetic.'_ A voice sounding exactly like EMIYA echoed through his head.

 _"Let me handle him."_

'You are still that useless and naive boy that was the weakest person in the war.' EMIYA mocked.

 _"Are you sure this is a good idea?"_

'Heck, even Kuzuki-sensei was much stronger than you, and he wasn't even a Magus.' EMIYA continued.

 _"Don't worry, I got this."_

 _'And everyone had to hold your hand around for you to even able to do anything -'_

EMIYA evidently wanted to say more, but was interrupted by the pain coming from his face.

"OW!" Shirou exclaimed in surprise.

"See? That always works." Arthas said.

"Huh? Oh, hey." Shirou greeted.

"Don't _'Hey'_ us! You've just been standing there doing nothing while everyone was working to the bone - !" Arthas heatedly started

"Calm down." But Joydee managed to cut in before Arthas truly went anywhere.

"Yeah, lay off him for a bit. Every thing was hectic and every one was tensed." Nikolas concurred on the side.

Arthas just huffed in response, and walked away with heavy stomps of his armored boots.

"How are you feeling?" Uther asked

Shirou blurted out "I am fine, why do you ask?" before he even realized what he said. _'Uh oh...'_ he inwardly cringed.

He was still sore and unsteady when he walked out of the infirmary, but sometime in between the chaos, he was feeling fine now. This is going to look even more suspicious with the still mysterious recovery from life threatening burns over night.

"We are going to move to outside the gates and see if there are any survivors on the front-line." Uther said in a grave tone.

"But I'm telling you! There are probably not going to be any! You KNOW how ruthless the Orcs are!" This time it's Nikolas's turn to be heated. He even went as far as point his fingers at Uther and jab it into the air continuously.

"It probably wouldn't be worth if we find out that there are even more Orcs waiting out there to ambush us. I say we gather everyone up and get out as soon as - "

"We can't."

Uther and Nikolas turned to face him. _'Oops, did I just say that out loud?'_

"Oh?" Nikolas raised an eyebrow.

 _'Ah screw it, might as well spill it out now.'_ "What if there ARE survivors out there? Are you just going to leave them to the mercy of the Orcs?" Shirou tried his best to not sound too biased, since every part of himself screamed for him to go out and save them.

But he knew not everyone thinks of it that way. Not after the lectures from Rin, Sakura and Arturia have repeatedly given him during the war. They made it perfectly clear that they weren't happy with how Shirou usually did thing. Oh, they were fine when he is willing to help; if he didn't jump head first into unknown danger with the intent of killing himself.

He felt another wave of longing hit him where it hurts.

"So you are just going to mount on this minuscule chance of someone being lucky out there, and throw your life away?" Nikolas questioned with a scowl.

"If you were the 'lucky' person being alive, would you want someone to save you?" But try as he might, Shirou couldn't keep his personal emotion from interfering.

This clearly hit a spot as Nikolas immediately clamped up.

A pregnant silence followed.

...

...

...

"Nikolas, Joydee. I won't force you to come with me." Uther broke the silence.

"But Sir?" Joydee was uncertain.

"Both Shirou and Nikolas have their points. If you don't want to, you don't have to come." Uther stated again.

And this time, Joydee fell quiet. Nikolas was still silent on the other side.

Uther turned around and faced him, but Shirou already knew what his own decision was before Uther could have said anything.

"I am going with you."

* * *

"I am going with you." The red haired boy in front of him said resolutely.

 _'Oh my, so many surprises today...'_ Uther was honestly surprised by this boy. Just now Shirou showed more determination than he saw in a grown and hardened man like Nikolas.

 _'This boy... He too has amazing potential.'_ Uther began to ponder.

The circumstances in how Shirou was found was very strange. Uther was just off on a patrol (paper work in the office is so mind killing-ly boring) and then a burst of light that blinded everyone came out of no where. Once the light subsided, there was a boy lying on the road.

Another flash of light, this time not as intense as before, flashed out. And then the boy caught fire.

The other people on patrol, namely two male Paladins, both gasped in horror when the boy started burning for no reason.

Of course, he wasn't unaffected by this either. He has watched several people being burned alive during the first war, but didn't outwardly show any of the disturbance he felt except for the slight widening of his eyes and twitch of eyebrow.

The three of them quickly tried to extinguish the fire, thankfully all three of them had bottles of water stashed into those 'bigger-on-the-inside' magic pouches, rolling the boy around on the ground while they shielded their hands from the fire with Divine Shield also helped.

But the boy was not out of the woods yet, his entire body was covered in black burns.

Uther knew that they had no time to waste, and instead of trying to go back the normal way, grabbed his Hearthstone. The other two copied him, and together they teleported back to Caer Darrow with the boy in tow.

Once they laid the boy to the closest infirmary, Uther quickly had the other two go back and report. Turning around, he was about to start healing the boy as best as he could to try and save him before all is too late.

Then something truly extraordinary happened right before Uther's eyes.

Golden light began to bloom across the boy's body, as if it is shedding away the dark burnt skin like unearthing magical glowing gold from deep underground.

A miracle by the Light happened, with him, the Master of the Order of the Silver Hand as witness that day.

He resolved the 'misunderstanding' with the healers who were running later.

Since then, the boy stayed unconscious for a few days. His condition didn't change much, it just looked like he was asleep except for the fact that the boy had an extremely high fever.

How high you say? One of the times when Uther was checking on the boy, he saw a little boy frying an egg on his body.

Sunny side up.

Yes, it was all the way cooked.

No, he didn't let the little boy eat it.

Of course, he gave a stern talking down to the little boy later. But by all rights the boy should have died from the fever.

This time he asked for a Priest that was a certified mind healer to come check him up, to see if he is either brain dead or not.

A Mind Vision and a few Thoughsteal later, it was revealed that the boy was indeed alive. Mind Vision in conjuction to Thoughtsteal could be used to peer into minds, and since the boy was unconscious, dreams. The Mind Healer voiced his confusion when he saw nothing but swords and swords and swords in the dream. But also said that there was a lot of bright light.

And then, something finally clicked in Uther's mind.

 _'Wait, Light? Could it be?'_ Uther didn't realize he had shown his surprise on his face, until Shirou gave him a confused frown.

Reaching one of his hand out, he placed them on top of Shirou's shoulder.

"Would you mind if I try something on you?" Uther asked tentatively.

"Uh... Sure?" Shirou's expression didn't change from the confused frown when he said that.

 _'Alright then, now the moment of Truth.'_ Uther breathed in a gulp of air and focused.

* * *

Shirou was still confused when Uther held onto his shoulder, but nothing prepared him from what happened next.

 _ **O' Light,**_

 _ **Ever Far Reaching,**_

 _ **I as Your Humble Servant,**_

 _ **Seek Guidance,**_

Uther's voice was echoing, and other worldly. His eyes, previously pale blue, began to glow in a golden color.

 ** _By Your Touch,_**

 ** _We Receive Salvation,_**

 ** _And By Your Grace,_**

 ** _We gain Virtues,_**

The golden glow from his eyes became more and more intense as the 'aria' continued. The entire place was showered under the glorious lights similar to the sun pouring down upon them. Shirou was struggling to keep his eyes open as Uther's eyes are now completely glowing eye sockets with no eye balls in sight.

 ** _I Ask You,_**

 ** _Inhabit This Soul,_**

 ** _Give it Life,_**

 _ **Give it Respect,**_

 _ **Grant it Tenacity,**_

 _ **And Bestow it Compassion,**_

Everything was then consumed by the light...

* * *

A few moments later, Uther knew that his assumption was correct when all the light just vanished without anything else happening.

He stared at the red haired boy in front of him who has his eyes clenched shut.

He waited until the boy opened his eyes again before he spoke.

"Would you like to become a Paladin?"

* * *

 _I repeatedly rewrote the last part again and again, but it couldn't come out how I wanted it to be. So I just called it quits after the 7th time._

 _Hopefully I didn't weird anyone out too much. And if you are lost, then don't worry. That was the intended effect. Uther is just being cryptic right now._

 _See you next chapter._

 _PS: I noticed that some people might not be happy about the EX Noble Phantasm appearing so early. But this is a point where Shirou realizes he has to be very careful with what he do in the future. Think the UBW as his Omni-potent panic button, he was in a pickle, and decided 'why not'. Now he knows why he shouldn't use his abilities lightly._

 _Oh, don't worry. This is not going to be a Curb Stomp fic. This over powered version of UBW is going to be necessary for the future. I am just setting it up right now._


	3. Bulls Eye

**Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Fate/stay night or any Blizzard related merchandise. Now stop trying to be silly and sue me.**

 _This story is Rated M for safety reasons. Although it will not be my main focus, I might spontaneously add in mature content such as violent imagery ranging from bloody fights, torture, or physical/mental abuse as well as foul language, lemon or other contents not recommended for youth below certain ages. You have been warned._

 _Hello everyone, this is Minaly22. This is the second chapter of the story. There will be a bit of bloody imagery but hopefully nothing over board._

 _Sorry this took some time. Me and my Betas had a very long discussion with where the story was going to go._

 _PS: Why the hell are there no Blue Exorcist X Devil May Cry crossovers? I am going to cry... Hope someone would make one; just not me!_

Beta'd by **silentstrixe** and **souvikkundu0017**

* * *

Arthas was guiding a nervous Shirou through the deeper parts of the Caer Darrow Keep, heading into the castle at the very end.

Shirou was surprised by how... small Caer Darrow actually is. It was just a small island on the lake with a castle and some buildings. He wasn't sure how much bigger Fuyuki is by comparison though.

It felt much bigger last night when he was running through it with Arthas, adrenaline pumping through their veins. But that fickle illusion shattered when Shirou stepped onto the garrison walls this morning, and looking down at everything that was protected by the surrounding walls.

Since the battle from last night, the majority of the buildings close to the gate were burned down. The whole place felt even smaller than before. The burnt buildings have not been completely demolished yet, so one could call the area close to the gate as the 'graveyard of black skeletons'. It was simply that eery.

And sadly, since the population density was higher at the area around the gates, a good majority of the normal civilians of the keep just lost their homes. Thankfully the other half who still had their homes offered to house them, but it was not quite enough. Another chunk of people now live inside the somewhat small castle, where there were fewer guest rooms than a normal castle, forcing them to squeeze together or even sleep on corners in the halls.

One couldn't be picky when they are not living in a normal castle, but a castle that was solely built for military purposes. A roof over their heads and walls to block the weather is probably all they would need at the moment anyway. Shirou also bunked with Arthas in the Castle last night, sharing a room where there are two beds on different sides of the room.

They are not short on 'living' supplies, as they still had enough food and clothing to tide everyone over for a while. Shirou breathed a sigh of relief when he found out he wouldn't need to touch Mage Food for a good while. Construction supplies, and especially healing supplies however, are on an all-time-low.

Reconstruction is not quite possible when they are on an island without enough supplies, as it takes much more time than usual to transport them if one discounts magically intensive Mage Portals that requires you to dislocate space or dimensions for a prolonged amount of time. The longer the distance, the harder it is to open it and keep it open. Currently, all the Mages are either too tired or injured to open Portals safely. So that leaves transporting things through ship.

Caer Darrow was also semi-under-siege. Even though they had convenient healing spells that the majority of the forces on Caer Darrow can use, they still require things like herbs to make medicine and potions for infections and poison, bandages to dress wounds when some people's limited healing abilities couldn't fully close one, splints for broken bones, etc.

If they just got attacked last night then that means the enemy should be very close too, trying to transport supplies like that is just asking them to rob you blind. All they are doing right now is keeping constant vigilance until a new plan is formulated by the higher-ups.

Except, Shirou wasn't really bothered by all this, these happenings weren't what caused him to be nervous.

He was much more bothered by Uther's 'chat' so to speak, from last night.

* * *

 _"Would you like to become a Paladin?" Uther asked out of the blue._

 _"Eh?" Shirou just stared._

 _"I said, would you like to become a Paladin?" Uther repeated himself, this time with an intense look in his eyes._

 _"I... uh... You see..." Shirou was not sure what to do, he was leery about this proposition that came out of the blue._

 _Even if the man didn't seem to have any nefarious intentions, Shirou could see that he has an ulterior motive._

 _So he decided to stall. Until he can think of what he should say, that is._

 _"It would be really great if you could join the Knights of the Silver Hand." Uther continued, the 'look' grew a bit more intense._

 _"But... Why would you want me to join?" Shirou was confused by Uther's sudden change of behviour. Becoming a Knight used to be one of his dreams before he decided to fully embrace his adoptive father's dream, but he never expected it to start out like... this; being passive-aggressively cornered and cajoled into becoming a Knight._

 _"You have a lot of potential, and I wouldn't want to see it go to waste." Yet Shirou could see that Uther genuinely wants him to join though._

 _"Am I really qualified? I mean, there must be better candidates than me around?" Shirou could see that this is probably not going to end well. **'Maybe I can ask for help? Nikolas or Joydee could probably defuse this situation...'** He tried to twist his body just a bit so he could meet the eyes of either of the duo._

 _Turns out, the two of them retreated to the far side of the road during the freakish moment where light poured down from the heaven, and Shirou doubts they saw his pleading eyes from that distance._

 _He did the next best thing he could think of at the moment. In hindsight, it was probably the worst decision he could make right then._

 _He took a step back._

 _"You seem to have some experience with conflict, and that alone says more than what meets the eye." Uther also took a step forward, but due to him being larger than Shirou, it was the same as taking two steps._

 _"How so?" Shirou was starting to panic, he took another step back when he realized Uther was a bit too close to him for comfort._

 _"There are many man less brave than you. I have asked the others around while you were day dreaming, and they told me how you jumped into a fire to save someone from their doom." Uther once more took two-steps worth of distance forward._

 _"I just did something that I thought was right -" Shirou started to reply, and tried to step back again, until a bright flash of light blinded him._

 _It was a brief flash, but still too bright in this late time of the night for him. Since Shirou's feet was still mid-air in a back pedaling motion, he stumbled to the ground in surprise when his feet didn't land correctly due to the sudden birghtness._

 _Letting out a yelp, he promptly scanned his surroundings to see the source of the light, but couldn't find anything._

 _'Aha!' Uther smiled in triumph, if this isn't a sign from The Light, then he wouldn't know what is._

 _"And that, Shirou, is why I think you would make a great Paladin." Uther looked down on the fallen Shirou, reached out his armored right hand, and thumbed it semi-harshly on his own chest plate - where the heart is - with a closed fist._

 _"It takes great courage to do what you did. Your heart is filled with everything we could ask from a Knight of the Silver Hand." Uther had to do his best to not let his sourness appear on his face. **'Unlike some people...'** he sneered inside, but forcefully pushed unpleasant memories deeper into his mind._

 _"I am sure others will do the same if given the chance -" Shirou was now forced to crawl backwards in a very undignified fashion. He was also poorly trying to deflect the subject._

 _"Like Arthas?" Uther interjected, and once again stepped forward._

 _"Yes, like him -" Shirou shuffled backwards._

 _"Arthas was trained ever since his birth to become a Paladin, its his life goal to be the best of the best." Uther interrupted again, another step._

 _"Then what does that have to do with me?" Shirou crawled backwards... and his back hit something solid._

 _He took a glance behind him, and was dismayed that he had hit the wall of a building._

 _Shirou is officially stuck._

 _Uther quickly closed the distance, and was looking down on Shirou almost oppressively._

 _"You could become something remarkable, someone truly great, if you join us." Uther slowly kneels down, and levels his gaze with Shirou's._

 _Although Uther's eyes shows that he means nothing but a sincere request, Shirou couldn't stop himself from thinking about the inconsistencies._

 _What are his motives? What does he get out of this arrangement? Why now, and not later?_

 _Shirou didn't want to find out what would happen if he says something._

 _So he stayed silent._

 _The awkward silence stretched for a while, and Uther just continuously stares at Shirou._

 _"Master, Shirou, what are you two doing?"_

 _Arthas walked up to them, with a confused look on his face. Shirou and Uther turned to look at him._

 _"Whoa, Master, what is with that 'Join, or Die, or Both' look on your face?" Arthas was kind of creep-ed out. He has never seen his Master like this before._

* * *

Deciding that thinking about Uther's strange behavior from last night was pointless, he quickly hastened his steps to catch up with Arthas when he realized he was lagging behind.

"This is the Castle of Caer Darrow." Arthas drawled out with a roll of his eyes. He has been doing that for a while in the tour now. Stating the obvious like 'this is the fountain in Caer Darrow, the garrison, the tower' etc. seems to grate on his nerves.

Shirou was a tiny bit disappointed by the tour when he realized Arthas is just walking around, stating what place is what, and not mentioning any history or memorial things about the location.

But maybe that is because he has been absolutely silent on the tour so far, would Arthas answer his questions if he asked? No reason not to try.

"Can you tell me more about this Castle?" Shirou asked tentatively.

"Sure. The Keep of Caer Darrow is the oldest human monument in the world. At least, thats what I heard from Archbishop Alonsus Faol." Arthas shrugged.

"Really? Who is Alonsus Faol?" Shirou asked next.

"He is Uther's master in the ways of the Light. There were initially no Paladins at first, just Priests. Archbishop Alonsus Faol realized that Priests are not the best combatants in a war, and decided to create the Order of the Silver Hand and train Knights to harness the power of the Light, thus creating the Paladins right after the first war." Arthas walked deeper into the castle as he explained about the history of the Order.

Things like how Master Uther was the Grandmaster of the Order, but preferred to be low key and split the responsibilities with other high ranking Paladins, making multiple Masters control the Order; but ultimately still being the highest figure in terms of authority Order because everyone respected him as such.

Shirou walked through the halls of the castle along with Arthas, who pointed out the directions to him if he ever wants to go to somewhere specific ("This is the Library, and aside from books, we also keep the records in here" or "This is the hallway leading to the Quarters, most Paladins who are still on Caer Darrow have a room there."). Shirou took note of everything, and constructed a mental map of the place. He was a bit surprised when he realized he had a piece of paper that was titled 'The Map of Caer Darrow' when he felt a new object being copied into his Unlimited Blade Works.

 _'What is this? A game? Its not like I could say 'Press M to open the Map'_ _or something...'_ Shirou thought wistfully.

They went up some staircases, and Arthas introduced Shirou to the second floor.

"This floor is where most higher authorities have there room on. As well as some smaller meeting rooms and offices. We try to keep quiet because they have to focus on their work." Arthas told him in a stage whisper, he then pointed at the staircase they walked on that linked the whole castle from ground floor to the highest floor.

"Up there is where the Masters are, and there are bigger offices as well as the big meeting room. I heard Master talking about how there is also a treasure room that keeps valuable artifacts or dangerous objects inside. Master and the others are probably arguing over what to do as we speak, so let's simply not go up there. Not like we should go up without permission anyway." And promptly led Shirou back down.

They went lower, ending up below the castle.

"Over there are the dungeons, where we keep captives and criminals if we have any." Arthas simply pointed towards the direction of the barred gates, and didn't guide Shirou through the place.

Shirou didn't want to go there anyhow. The smell is as horrible as they come, and his sensitive nose is making his stomach queasy.

He happily followed Arthas up back to the ground floor, where Arthas proceeded to take him to the other side of the castle.

"We will pass through the Kitchen shortly. Do you want something specific to eat?" Arthas inquired.

As if on queue, Shirou's stomach began to grumble. And he blushed embarrassingly when Arthas threw him a grin.

"No, not really. Anything other than Mage Food would be fine." And this time Shirou got a raised eyebrow from Arthas.

"I don't see how you seem to dislike Mage Food so much." Arthas asked confusedly.

Shirou was about to open his mouth and give off a remark about _'eating junk food or fast food all the time isn't healthy'_ before he was interrupted by Arthas's growling stomach. This time, it was his turn to shoot him a grin, and Arthas scoring an embarrassed blush.

In hindsight, Arthas probably wouldn't know what junk food is. But Oh well.

Stepping into the Kitchen together, they sat down at a table inside the gigantic room. One of the kitchen helpers walked towards them, and greeted them cheerfully, grabbed a plate filled with food, then placed it in front of the two teens.

Arthas quickly wolfed it down without any composure, reminding Shirou of Taiga.

 _'Oh no, Fuji-nee...'_ Shirou wanted to facepalm. What is going to happen to her when she realizes three of her students, one being her surrogate younger brother, plus a foreigner that claims to be her now deceased crush's friend, had **literally** disappeared off the face of the earth?

Shirou finished his meal halfheartedly as the memories of a certain rowdy Fujimura Taiga flooded his consciousness.

* * *

Once Arthas finished demolishing the food supply, they walked some more in the castle.

Shirou was very interested of the Armory they passed by, but Arthas told him that they don't need to go in there yet.

So Shirou found himself at the training grounds out door with Arthas. It was a vast field, practice dummies and big open space on one side and a fenced circle for fighting/sparring purposes on the other. There were a few people practicing, and Shirou could see someone sending bolts light out to hit the dummies, while the others were sparring.

Both Arthas and Shirou just stood there, watching the other Paladins train. It was interesting to see someone wielding a two handed axe sparring with another who uses a pole-arm. Both were slightly unwieldy due to their size and weight when compared to one handed swords or daggers, but pack much more punch into the hits. Shirou noted with interest how the person with the pole-arm was flowing around the hits from the axe wielder.

It reminded him of Lancer back during the Grail War, with his superior speed, the person he is watching right now is nowhere close to that level, but there were still similarities.

The axe wielder mindlessly hacks around with obvious strength, continuously missing their nimble opponent. While the attacks were powerful, it would not matter if it didn't hit their opponent.

 _'Would it been easier to take down Berserker if he wasn't so quick?'_ Shirou couldn't help but wonder

... The axe wielder isn't trying to adjust his tactics, and keeps over reaching by putting too much force into the strikes.

 _'Never mind, this guy doesn't look like he is catching on at all.'_ Shirou thought sympathetically. Even Berserker under the  Mad Enhancements wouldn't have been this pathetic. Although to be fair, the Berserker probably wouldn't care, he will just wear them down and beat them to the ground given enough time because of his God Hand.

Eventually, once the spar winded down when the axe wielder called it quits, they moved away from the training field. Walking towards the entrance of the castle where the courtyard with a fountain, they sat down on one of the empty benches.

"So what do you think?" Arthas asked Shirou as they both settled down.

"Think about what?" Shirou asked confusedly. Arthas's question has a wide range of different interpretation. What did he think about the town? How did he like the castle? Was the food to his liking? Was he asking about the spar?

"About last night?" Arthas turned to look Shirou directly in the eyes.

Once again, Arthas's question has more interpretation than one. The attack from last night, the fire they jumped into, the girl they saved, the Orcs that were figuratively swept away then frozen solid, and... Uther's offer to join the Order.

"Are you talking about the attack?" Shirou didn't want to talk about Uther's offer just yet, so he once again tried to deflect the subject... poorly.

"No, that was not what I wanted to ask you. But it was pretty hectic last night wasn't it?" Arthas rolled his eyes, seemingly catching up to the fact that I am avoiding the 'obvious' subject. Not giving Shirou another chance to stall, Arthas cut right to the point.

"What do you think about Master's offer?"

"... I honestly have no idea." Shirou admitted to Arthas. Normally he would have not revealed his feelings so easily so someone he didn't know. However, there is simply 'something' about Arthas that Shirou couldn't help but confide in him. It doesn't feel like the 'charisma' Arturia had as a King, or it could just be a much weaker version of it that is still affecting him somehow.

Plus, he could see that they can become friends if they tried. Arthas reminded him of himself, a different and much more hot-headed version of himself. They both seemed to be stubborn and abandon self-preservation when someone is need of assistance.

They haven't tried to become friends yet. He is confused, depressed, and pessimistic about his future; making friends is probably the last thing on his mind at the moment. He still never got a chance to unwind from the freakish war back in Fuyuki, and now add being thrown into a different world on top of that, is making him starting to crack. Him worrying about his friends is also not helping him any, and being reminded of Fuji-nee felt like a knee to his gut.

"I really have no idea what to do with this offer. I... my friends and I were fighting to destroy an evil artifact back at home, then the next thing I know is waking up in someplace I don't know, separated from my family and friends, and thrown right into the line of fire." Which was part of the truth.

"Then do you know where you came from? Maybe we can find out what happened?" Arthas suggested.

 _'Oh you have no idea.'_ Shirou resisted the urge to depressingly bury his head into his hands. How is he ever going to reunite with his friends? There is nothing to look into, and there might also not be a way back home.

So Shirou settled on a sigh and shaking his head. Arthas slumped back into the bench.

"What do you want to do?" Arthas asked, tone slightly gentler than before.

 _'What do I want to do? Good question...'_ Shirou wanted nothing but go back home with his friends, he wanted everyone come out alright after the Grail War.

Which also means he didn't want to accept Uther's offer.

"I don't want to accept Uther's offer because what I really want right now is finding my friends, and see if we can go home." He will have to try and find his friends in this world, be them dead or alive, misplaced through time and either becoming older than him since they landed here 'earlier', or him having to wait several years only to stumble upon his still-teenager friends.

Staying here would not be a good decision.

"But you could join and let us help you search. More people helping you would make it easier, right?" Arthas suggested. And it was a sound suggestion, since it does makes more sense to have multiple people help out. Heck, its not just 'a few people' in this case but an entire organization.

"Is leaving the Order possible?" Which brings up the second issue of him not wishing to join the Order. What if it's almost impossible to leave the Order? If he would be joining just for the help he would get while searching for his friends, then he is most likely not going to stay once he finds them. Back on Earth, there was no way to completely cut ties from the Clock Tower once you joined.

However, he was feeling a tad bit guilty for comparing an Order of righteous Knights who strive for honor and justice, with an Association filled to the brim by people of questionable morals.

"Technically, yes. But no one truly wants to leave unless they have to." Arthas informed Shirou somberly.

"Have to leave?" Shirou wondered.

"We Paladins rely on the power from The Light. The Light is in all of our hearts; It grows stronger with every good deed we do, and every righteous action we commit." Then Arthas imitated the Uther's gesture from last night - he thumbed his own chest plate where the heart was supposed to be.

"But the Light will leave you if you ever do something wrong or evil willingly. And most likely will never be with you again, until you go through a very lengthy process of 'atonement'. Once the Light leaves you, you are no longer considered to be a Paladin, and although officially you are still a member of the Order..." Arthas trailed off, and Shirou understood what he meant.

The Clock Tower was the same on this regard. Magi who have lost their ability to use Magecraft, although still considered as members of the association, become social outcasts that are shunned by everyone. It was the reason why his adoptive father, Emiya Kiritsugu, the Magus Killer who robs his targets the ability to use Magecraft forever was so feared. No one had ever survived against him, and dead people can't use Magecraft; even if they live by some miracle or other, they would still never be able to do any Magecraft again.

"If that happens, and they ask for permission to leave, they are free to go. But otherwise, everyone is very contend in being in the Order. No one would really leave willingly on their own unless facing dire circumstances; and even then, everyone in the Order will gladly help them out." Shirou didn't doubt for a moment if anyone was in trouble, the entire Order would jump on the chance to help them; if not out of the simple goodness of their heart, then for the power boost from the Light by doing something good.

"There has been instances where the Paladin in question wished to leave the Order due to reasons like getting married and settling down, or crippling injury that made them unfit to continue as members of the Order. But I have yet to see any Ex-Paladin with my own eyes." Arthas finished his explanation.

This explanation cleared most of his questions about the Order away. There have also been interesting information about the Paladins and their powers.

The Order sounds like a wonderful place. _'If only it was truly the case.'_ But Shirou held his cynicism regarding it, and reserved such judgmental thoughts for later.

Shirou was still undecided in what he exactly wanted to do, but thanks to Arthas, he was certain he wouldn't feel so bad about joining the Order if push really comes to shove.

"Thank you, that helped a lot." And Shirou mustered up his most sincere smile he could manage at the moment.

Arthas simply smiled back.

Shirou swore he saw a tiny glow of light coming from Arthas's chest plate, but decided to not think further upon it.

* * *

Shirou and Arthas chatted through the rest of the day.

They talked about various things, and Shirou found out that they share a lot more in common than he previously had thought.

For one, Arthas favored close combat and his preferred weapon was a sword. Like him, Arthas was rash and headstrong most of the time, and usually gets scolded by Uther or other Masters. In his case, Shirou would end up with Rin and Fuji-nee screeching his ears off (with the former doing it 'discreetly'), Arturia giving him disapproving glares, and Sakura a fake smile on her face when he does something stupid.

Aside from mentioning how he shared those traits, Shirou also told him something about himself in return. Things such as Cooking, and explaining why he abhors Mage Food because he takes it as an insult to all Cooks in the world, or him being good at Archery.

Arthas just stared at him strangely when he mentioned his Archery abilities, then his face formed into a wicked smirk.

"I bet you can't shoot 20 bulls eyes in a row." Arthas taunted playfully.

Shirou wanted to playfully joke back, but was interrupted by someone else.

"Oh? Is that a challenge I hear there?" Nikolas's voice floated over from the side. The Paladin was decked out in full armor, unlike the two teens who are wearing casual tunics instead, because of the orders from Uther.

 _'Relax and take the day off until I call for you.'_ So Arthas shed the armor since it was a day to relax.

"Yeah! Shirou told me that he is pretty good at Archery. But I bet he wouldn't be able to score 20 bulls eye in a row." Arthas told the man.

"Hey hey, isn't that a bit too harsh? I haven't seen a Hunter around here that could score 20 bulls in a row for a while." Nikolas scolded Arthas slightly, but Shirou could hear he didn't actually mean it.

"You both know that I am still here, right?" Shirou called out, clearly annoyed.

He saw Nikolas's grin grow slightly bigger, and Arthas still sporting that infernally taunting smirk.

And then Nikolas did something that made Shirou want to strangle him.

"HEY EVERYONE! OUR LITTLE FRIEND HERE WANTS TO SCORE 20 BULLS EYE IN A ROW HERE!" Nikolas shouted at the top of his lungs, and a crowd soon gathered around.

"That scrawny looking kid? No really?" Someone said.

"Ahahaha, good one Niko." Another voiced out.

"Doesn't look like archer material."

"Probably going to end up missing everything!"

The crowd laughed at that. And the chatter continued, until Shirou felt his temper snap.

"Fine." Shirou grounded out.

Everyone turned their heads toward his direction.

"I am going to score 20 bull eye in a row. All of you are going to eat your words, and I am going to make you like it." He channeled a bit of his inner Tohsaka Rin during that statement, and tried his best job in imitating her scathingly stiff smirk which screamed displeasure to all who are not dense or blind.

"Where can I get a bow and some arrows?" Shirou asked.

* * *

Shirou, now equipped with a regular wooden bow, and exactly 20 arrows in the quiver on his back, walked to the training field with an entire group of Paladins trailing behind him.

The group grew even bigger as a certain someone that has a name that starts with 'N' ran off to fetch the bows and arrows, while screaming about the challenge all the way.

According to Nikolas, he had to run to the town's forge to borrow the bows and arrows along with the quiver, the shop owner asked Nikolas to return it later.

Thankfully he didn't announce their purpose all around town, but he did drag the Paladins walking around back to the castle with him.

Shirou's reaction to the growing group made Arthas collapse on the ground in laughter. He promptly kicked him, and felt a bit better after hearing Arthas let out an 'oof!' of pain.

Finally reaching the the practice dummies, he saw how the bulls eye was painted on the chest of the comically looking target dummy. Shaped vaguely like a man, it had a silly yellow painted split-in-the-middle hairdo, a face that could only be described as derpy, and the mouth was painted to look like its missing a teeth. There was a crossed bandage on its right shoulder, and a raised left arm in the air, while the body was made to look like its wearing a brown vest. For some unimaginable reason, the whole thing was attached to a spring board, so it bounced from right to left slightly, completing the look of an idiotic blonde man wearing a brown vest that has a bulls eye painted on its chest, waving his left arm in the air and missing a teeth. (Hearthstone Target Dummy!)

'Even a Target Dummy is mocking me...' Shirou thought irritatingly. Then raised his bow, placed an arrow, and focused.

Seeing that the show was about to begin, the crowd were starting to quiet down. Shirou paused for a few moments, seemingly waiting for the noise to die completely.

But in reality he was reinforcing the bow discreetly.

During the Grail War, Shirou had gained a good majority of Archer's memories. And Archer uses a conceptual reinforcement on his traced bow that would increase its accuracy by being able to shoot arrows that lock on specific targets. It was not perfect when faced against enemies much stronger than him, but vastly increase the chance of landing a hit. Shirou could understand how it was beneficial in a fight where it was hard to hit the enemy due to their superhuman capabilities. Archer later implemented something similar whenever he decided to shoot weapons he traced from the Reality Marble, like how Gilgamesh would shoot his enemies by opening the Gate of Babylon.

Shirou quite enjoys the feeling of focused tranquility while doing archery back in the High school Club, and he usually wouldn't have even considered using this reinforcement except during combat situations. But the behavior of the Paladins calls for some good ol' revenge on his part.

He pulled, then released.

The arrow flew through the air with a _'whish'_ and landed on the target dummy with a **'thunk'**. The dummy, due to being placed on a bouncing spring, frantically twisted around due to the power of the shot.

Once it settled down, the spectators all let out appreciative noises of some kind. Some were whistling, some were cheering or aah-ing.

The arrow was lodged right in the middle of the bulls eye.

Realistically speaking, if it was just regular shooting on a target, Shirou actually didn't need to use the conceptual reinforcement of perfect accuracy; he would have scored all bulls eye anyway. But he had something 'fun' planned that he probably would never pull off without using the reinforcement.

He quickly pulled back the strings, set the arrow, and released it again. All in the split of a second.

The arrow once again lodged into the bulls eye, going directly through the previous arrow and splitting it. The dummy bounced erratically again.

But Shirou didn't let up, and quickly shot the dummy while it was bouncing. Another pull, set and release, the arrow hit the dummy and it redoubled its frantic dance.

He shot another few arrows in quick succession that way, always hitting the previous arrow perfectly while the dummy was erratically bouncing around. None of those arrows would have hit without the reinforcements.

He then decided to do something different.

Shirou angled the bow upwards to the sky, and shot the arrow into the air.

He watched the arrow in the air nervously. He had never tried that before during his Archery Practices, but was confident he would have been able to score a bulls eye without cheating... on a stationary target.

He could see that the arrow changed trajectory ever so slightly that it would hit the bulls eye on the 'dancing' dummy.

Shooting another in the sky, he got the same result as last time with none the wiser.

Shirou then mounted two arrows on the bow, then gave a backward leap, shooting the dummy while mid-air. Without the reinforcement, it probably wouldn't have scored a bulls eye even if its just a stationary target, not to mention the one he is shooting at is bouncing without any order or rhythm, but it would have at least hit the target somewhere.

But since he was cheating, both arrows hit the bulls eye.

He did this a few more times with only one arrow, leaping left and right then forward.

Archer, as in EMIYA, had to learn how to shoot on the move since it was not always a good idea for him to stay stationary. Thankfully Shirou had the memories on that, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to pull it off.

Mentally counting how many arrows he had left, he realized that he used up 13 already.

He then twisted his head to look over his shoulder, and grinned at the gobsmacked expression on everyone's face.

"Hey!" He shouted, and it seemed to bring a majority of the audience back to their senses.

Shirou continued to smile, looking right at them as his hands pulled, set, and released another arrow.

They gaped at him like a bunch of human-headed fishes.

He did that with three more arrows, bringing his arrow count to 17. Shirou purposely made funny faces at them when he shot at the bouncing target without looking at it.

Rifling through the memories he got from Archer, he found something interesting.

Shirou let go of the bow birefly, then twisted his right arm in front and over his head. Instead of holding the bowstring somewhere close to his right ear, by positioning it this way, the bowstring is now almost touching his left ear. His right hand was holding the bow string in a backward grip, and was on the same side as his left.

Shirou was aware that he was holding his bow in a very bizarre position, but he couldn't help but try when he found out the memories about ancient Mongolian archery masters being able to shoot arrows that way. It doesn't matter if he wouldn't actually hit the target and if he was cheating.

He was having too much fun to not play around.

Releasing the strings with a grin on his face, he saw the arrow speeding towards the target dummy and hit the bulls eye again courtesy of the reinforcement.

He shot another arrow with that bizarre position, now he is down to his last arrow.

 _'Hmm, what to do.'_ Shirou absentmindedly fingered the shaft of the arrow as he mounted it.

Then an idea struck him, and Shirou's grin grew bigger.

He walked towards the target dummy, placed his hands on it, turned around, and began to walk large steps away from the target dummy. He made a show out of counting the number of steps he took loudly, and the audience seem to realize what he is doing.

There is a Japanese idiom originated from Chinese which describes the an amazing archer.

'Shooting Willow from a Hundred Steps away'. 

It means being able to shoot a specific willow leaf fluttering in the wind from hundred paces/steps away without ever missing.

"One Hundred!" Shirou announced. One hundred steps away from the target dummy. He really hopes this is going to work...

 _"There is no way!"_

 _"Is he really going to -!?"_

 _"How in the world can he -!?"_ and other disbelieving comments of the same vein floated through the distance.

Shirou turned around, and took aim of the target dummy swaying from left to right.

Deciding that he was getting bored of hitting the bulls eye with the reinforcement, he decided to get rid of it and try hit the target dummy with his own ability. He was curious and wanted to see if he could really do it without cheating. Back on Earth, there was a Guinneas record on being able to shoot a target from 200 meters away, which equates to about 135 steps. Breaking it as he is right now is not his goal, since he is just trying something different.

Taking a deep breath, Shirou shut out everything else around him. The world slowly faded away as he focused on hitting the target dummy, and nothing else.

Inhale, exhale.

Inhale, exhale.

Inhale, pull, exhale.

Inhale, set, exhale.

Inhale...

 _'Release!'_ Shirou let go of the string.

Shirou watched with baited breath (as he forgot to exhale after taking a breath before releasing the arrow) as the arrow flew through the distance.

The dummy was hit by the arrow, and bounced around, making it impossible to see where the arrow landed clearly.

The audience was silent as a grave, waiting for the dummy to settle down and reveal the results.

...

...

...

Then the whole training field erupted into loud cheers.

Shirou grinned, feeling proud of himself.

The spectators scattered once the show was over, but a sizable group of Paladins were still surrounding Shirou when he walked back into the castle with the sunset on his back. They were throwing off all kinds of compliments as he walked.

Shirou simply tuned them out, since he didn't really care for those compliments. He had fun from that little show, even if he had cheated the majority of it, but hey, it was out of good fun, so no harm done in his opinion.

He turned his head around and saw Arthas looking slightly... sour.

 _'Huh?'_ Shirou was confused.

Arthas seemed to realize that Shirou was looking at him, and his expression quickly changed into a grin.

"Oh! I know! We should go drink!" One of the Paladins shouted out, and was met by several affirmative cheers.

Shirou was then dragged by a group of excited Paladins into town with an expression of shock on his face, Arthas was grabbed by Nikolas when he tried to weasel out of it.

Entering the local tavern, they were greeted by a cheerful voice.

"Welcome to my inn! Ha, find a seat if you can!" The stout and short innkeeper standing atop a barrel bellowed out.

 _'I guess I just had my first look at a Dwarf.'_ Shirou thought to himself and twisted his head to have a second look at the Dwarf. The Dwarf in question was very short, and Shirou estimates that he was in fact shorter than Illya. The Dwarf has long dark auburn colored hair braided on the two sides - possibly his long side burns, a full voluminous beard that could probably make a Viking in the past back on Earth jealous, and heavily muscled arms with a tankard in his left hand, along with a strange card that has a gold outline, blue back ground and a swirly patterned gem and a star set on the middle.

Shirou saw some people shuffling around, watching over two people who sat holding the same kind of cards, and staring at each other with a strangely shaped board on a table between them. A brief poof of smoke, and a 'Croak' later, one of the two banged the table in frustration while the other smirked in glee.

He couldn't really think more about the Dwarf or the strange cards in its hand, or the strange board though, as the Paladins dumped him on a table on the other side of the tavern, hollering for drinks.

* * *

Shirou was still sober by the time the group came out from the tavern.

He had been forced by the others to drink when they realize he hadn't touched a single drop of alcohol. Shirou pretended to have drunk a lot, but in reality he has only been sipping on that one tankard he got.

There was no way he could describe the mortification of drinking underage, but realizing it was technically legal since there are no such restrictions in a different world. A drunken Fuji-nee has at one point forced him to drink some Sake, but Shirou could only remember the burning feeling down his throat from that particular experience.

She tearfully apologized to Shirou the next day for forcing him to drink with her.

The food in the tavern however, made Shirou more than happy enough to devour without any one prompting him. His tongue was assaulted by strange and exotic tastes he hadn't tasted before when he bit down on the chicken legs, piquing his interest to the cooking of this world.

Jokes were thrown around, and the atmosphere only got more and more rowdy in the tavern. Shirou felt his spirit lift slightly from the Archery game and watching the other patrons of the tavern goofing around.

Arthas, on the other hand, wasn't quite so lucky to escape the drinks unscathed.

The other teenager was utterly smashed. Swaying around almost exactly like the Target Dummy Shirou had just abused a few hours ago, and mumbling drunkenly incoherently under his breath. He was quite certain that Arthas has glared at him a few number of times when the other teen didn't think he was looking, but he wasn't sure what for. And before he knew it, Arthas became the most drunken person at the table.

Shirou had hooked the other teen's arms over his shoulder to stabilize the other. And even then, it was getting a bit hard to keep Arthas steady and not topple from side to side all the time.

"Arthas, are you certain you are alright?" Shirou asked concernedly.

"Aw, Amfine~. Diz ish Nossing." Arthas slurred back.

"I saw you glaring at me back there, what's the matter?" Now wouldn't be a bad chance to pry, since drunken people are usually more forthcoming.

"Yu may me rook bad beck dare" Arthas swayed once again before he finished that sentence.

 _'I made him look bad back there? What does he mean?'_ Shirou was still confused, but he now at least understand that Arthas would be upset because he made him look bad.

Question is - "What did I do to make you look bad?" Shirou pulled Arthas back to his side as he said this.

"Arrrrrrrr, cherry" But Arthas tumbled back a bit too harshly, and Shirou had to steady himself in order not to fall down with him.

 _'What does my Archery have anything to do with - Oh.'_ Shirou rolled his eyes to himself. Arthas was the one who started everything, and he must have took it unnecessarily hard by thinking Shirou showed him up.

Not that Shirou would tell Arthas that he happily did it, and did a spectacular job at it. But that wouldn't make the situation any better.

"Er, Sorry?" Shirou had to at least try and placate him, although he hasn't ever done that successfully when facing an angry Fuji-nee or Rin.

"Yar fetter ve! *hic*" Oh no, he is even starting to hiccup now.

"Do you remember how much you drank?" Shirou continued to make way towards the castle.

"Rossss kont afta erefen" Eleven? Wow, how much can this guy drink?

Shirou felt pity towards Arthas; the other teen is going to have a killer hangover tomorrow.

Finally reaching the castle, he walked to the side where their room was: the Quarters area.

Shirou's blood froze when he saw someone standing outside their door at the end of the hall.

It was Uther.

 _'Oh crap...'_ Shirou thought sourly. He did not want to talk about the offer to join the Paladins just yet, and he doubt Uther would be happy to see a Squire drunken to the bone, hanging off the shoulders of a potential recruit.

But it was too late, Uther seems to have saw the duo and is currently walking towards them now.

"Well met, Shirou... Arthas?" Uther asked in bewilderment.

"Yooooo Masterbaite - mmph" Shirou quickly slapped a hand over Arthas's mouth before he embarrassed himself further.

"Ahah, ahaha." Shirou laughed awkwardly, he can feel a sweat drop rolling behind is head.

Seeing that Uther was frozen on the spot in shock, Shirou quickly darted behind him while dragging Arthas along, tore the door open, dashed into it, and slammed it closed.

He dumped Arthas onto one of the beds, threw the sheets on top of him haphazardly, and ran back outside.

Once again, slamming the door shut, he placed his back on the door as he stared at the back of Uther the Lightbringer, still standing there, not reacting to anything he had done so far.

* * *

It took a few moments for Uther to finally find his composure again.

"Well met, Shirou. How are you doing?" Uther turned around and greeted him, with a strained smile on his face.

"I am doing fine. The Paladins dragged Arthas and I to the tavern." Shirou replied with an equally strained smile.

"Then I shall speak to them tomorrow." Uther's strained smile only grew more strained, and Shirou could see that there is a tick mark that wasn't there before.

 _'If I have learned anything from hanging around Rin... That kind of expression can only promise a whole lot of pain to their aggressor.'_ Shirou thought wistfully.

"How did the meeting go?" Shirou wondered.

"Nothing much. Thankfully none of us are politicians, so it went on without any troubles." It was not hard to see the relief on Uther's face.

 _'Rin and Arturia talked about that too..._ ' Talking with politicians was always a pain. Things go round and round in circles, petty arguments are thrown around, hostility continues to rise between them, and nothing ends up getting done.

Rinse and repeat every day, then you get a Kingdom or Nation heading towards ruin.

"What are your decisions regarding my offer?" And Shirou cringed.

"I still don't know what I want to do. I have talked with Arthas and it helped..." Shirou admitted his uncertainties.

"Oh? What did you two talk about?" Uther inquired.

"I told him that I actually didn't want to join the Paladins." This time, it was Uther's turn to cringe.

"Not that because I don't like the Paladins... Its about something else, something more personal." Shirou rubs his arms, as the chill in the night settled around him, being inside a stone castle not only didn't help, it actually made it worse.

Seeing Shirou being uncomfortable in the cold, Uther grabbed Shirou's arms and gently pulled him to move.

Together, they walked towards the second floor, and Uther casually opened a door as if he owned the place.

 _'He does, to an extent.'_ Shirou thought. Uther might not actually own the castle, but as the person of highest authority around here right now, it wouldn't be a stretch if he had absolute freedom to do what he wished with it.

Walking through the door, Shirou managed to discern the fact that this was an office with the help of his reinforcement.

Night vision was really important to survive in the night back on Fuyuki.

There was a low table in the middle with two chairs facing each other; Uther sat down on one of them, and gestured for Shirou to take the other.

Shirou shuffled awkwardly to the chair, being self conscious to the fact that they were sort of trespassing. But if Uther doesn't have any trouble with it, he supposes he can go along with it.

"Now, what is the 'personal' thing that is troubling you?" Uther asked.

And now, Shirou had to actively stiffen himself to stop himself from squirming.

He has no idea whether to spill everything about his world, or just leave out facts and tell half truths like he did with Arthas. Both have its benefits; If he came clean with everything, there would be less misunderstandings in the long run, but he can't guarantee that Uther won't use those information to his advantage by blackmailing him to join the Order or using it to fulfill his own agendas. On the other hand, if he omitted a big majority of his story and be vague, he might be let off the hook, but since Shirou doubt Uther would be fooled for long, he will ultimately have to face this issue again as Uther listens with much more distrust than before.

Decisions, decisions.

When in doubt, stall!

...

Oh wait, stalling would seem way too obvious right now, and only make Uther more suspicious of him.

 _'What should I do?'_ Shirou was trying his best to think of a solution right now.

* * *

Uther the Lightbringer was feeling tired.

The meeting today dragged on for a very long time, and even though they had breaks in between, it still ultimately caused him a migraine.

He was clamping on the urge to rub his temples as he sat in the empty office in the middle of the night right now.

Having Arthas's drunken state presented to him in all its glory was also not helping him at all.

Terenas was a loud individual due to his temper when he was younger, but when the former prince was drunk, he was uncharacteristically quiet. Arthas acting like that was a surprise that Uther did not expect to see for a time yet.

He was going to have a stern talking down to those people with hang overs tomorrow, that is for sure.

 _'Better focus on the situation right now...'_ Uther pulled his thoughts back to the present.

The mysterious young teen in front of him was struggling.

He hasn't started to squirm or shift his eyes to avoid his gaze, or anything that could outwardly portray his nervousness; but Uther gets the feeling that the teen wasn't having an easy time.

 _'What is he struggling for? Is he trying to hide something? Is it physically impossible for him to tell me about it? Or is it just too emotional and personal?'_ Uther's mind raced.

And so Uther silently watched the youth, not uttering a single word.

 _'The Orcs are close, maybe too close.'_ So he decided to let his mind wander on other things for now. Like thinking about the meeting during the day.

Terenas has sent him away from the front lines to defend the country on the inside, repelling infiltration and raids, as well as helping as many victims of war as possible. The Order of the Silver Hand has already completely traveled through the all lands within the Kingdom of Lordaeron, and it was disturbing to see so many Orcs within the borders.

Repelling the Orcs in one area simply makes them relocate to another, and once the Order chases them, the area that was previously cleared will be filled with new Orcs again. It was a very damning cycle, one they didn't know how to break.

Uther at first didn't worry too much, since it was war; and it used to be only the places close to the border who are having trouble. But an attack on Caer Darrow is simply too deep into the Kingdom of Lordaeron to just brush off without a care. Something is definitely wrong if the Orcs can just slip through their lines and hit so deep.

The second capital: Stratholme is just a few days away if travelling slowly from Caer Darrow. Marching quickly will take a whole day, riding swiftly would only take a half. It was by pure chance that they have decided to set up on Caer Darrow instead of camping close to the other settlements under attack. Uther and the other masters originally believed that Caer Darrow would be safe for a few more weeks, and would have missed this siege if they didn't decide to stay here instead.

He has to send thanks to Dalaran someday. If they didn't have as many Mages as they did now, they would have been forced to camp at the villages since there were no portals for quick travel available. If they wished to defend the villages, it would have been more practical to stay there instead of traveling from Caer Darrow. This has prevented the fall of Caer Darrow...

 _'... And saved everyone lots of trouble by keeping the Runestone away from our enemies.'_ Uther voiced this particular train of thoughts to the council of Masters, but none seem to believe that the Orcs would go after a Runestone and not for the keep on the lake with immense strategic value.

But he knew he was right. The Orcs had to have been going after the Runestone if they didn't immediately attack Shirou and Arthas when they were defenseless and surrounded. Killing the resistance on the inside wasn't important since they somehow knew everyone was retreating...

 _'...Which also means we have a spy in our midst somewhere.'_ Uther thought grimly.

Their enemies knew that the keep was going to be emptied when they entered it. It wasn't possible for the Orcs to have hesitated in attacking the people who are still inside otherwise. The Orcs were also not the best naval fighters with their longer and sleeker ships capitalizing on speed, since Lordaeron is renown for its strength on waters. Which makes it even more suspicious that they got close enough to attack the gates.

 _'Maybe now is not the best time to hear his story right now.'_ Uther admitted to himself, and finally gave into the urge to rub his temples.

His mind was swamped with all these things about the war and their current situation as well as the 'what ifs'. Even though listening to a troubled youth so he could help him was a great thing, right now it seems both are way too distracted to actually do anything about that.

"Shirou," Uther called out.

The boy was jolted out of his musings; tensing up in surprise.

"I think tonight we are too tired and have too many things on our mind to do this effectively." Uther continued.

He closely watched the boy's body, to see if he could glean any more clues from him.

The previously tensed muscles were beginning to relax, and the breathing was also returning to normal.

Clear signs of relief.

 _'So, he is definitely hiding something.'_ Uther mused. But he wasn't exactly worried though; the boy was unconscious for a short period of time so it was impossible for him to be a spy if he was in no condition to report his findings. The boy was also under constant surveillance once he woke up, with him assigning Arthas to watch over him and all.

Silently standing up, Uther walked towards the door and pulled it open; walking out the door

Shirou followed him shortly after that.

Both walked through the empty hallway without another word, and paused at the stairs that connected to the higher floor and lower floor.

"Rest well, Shirou." Uther said.

"You too, sir." And Shirou slowly walked down the stairs.

Sighing, Uther walked upwards, heading for his room at the top of the castle.

* * *

 _Right._

 _So nothing interesting to say here, except the fact that I am moving this month and chapter updates will be much slower._

 _Oh don't worry, they will update eventually, just takes more time._


	4. Calm before the Storm

**Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Fate/stay night or any Blizzard related merchandise. Now stop trying to be silly by suing me.**

 _This story is Rated M for safety reasons. Although it will not be my main focus, I might spontaneously add in mature content such as violent imagery ranging from bloody fights, torture, or physical/mental abuse as well as foul language, lemon or other contents not recommended for youth below certain ages. You have been warned._

 _Hello everyone, this is Minaly22. This is the fourth chapter of the story. There will be no action (Thank goodness! I really think I absolutely suck at writing action scenes) and its pretty much just a filler chapter._

 _It took sometime for me to research everything I needed to make this chapter flow correctly, and hopefully it will be a good read for everyone._

 _I really think that I'm a horrible writer, and should delete everything in shame ._. But then, writing this story is too much fun, and the potential in the plot line too great for me to just throw it away!_

 _Oh, I have done loads of skipping scenes in this chapter. I apologize if it makes people uncomfortable, but start get used to it, or else there is simply too much for me to write and it starts to get extremely stressful. This will happen in the future as well._

Beta'd by **silentstrixe** and **souvikkundu0017**

* * *

Shirou was woken up by Arthas's loud groan from the other side of the room.

It seems that the other teen is in an immeasurable amount of pain.

...

 _'It hurts! Please!' A desperate cry echoed through the night._

... He quickly squashed down the memories of his past, and focused on the present.

His desire to help the suffering teen was climbing each moment he hears another painful moan from the other bed in the room, and he couldn't really go back to sleep with good conscience. So he climbed out of the comfortable bed in their room, leisurely stretched his limbs and purposely made sounds to attract the attention of the suffering teen.

He threw a cheeky smile at the person scowling at him from their bed, and unnecessarily carefully stretched his limbs. Purposely doing it slower than usual.

 _'Everything seems to be in order.'_ Shirou mused. The aches from several days ago have completely subsided, and a quick check within him has told him that his Prana reserve has once again made another jump. He almost fainted from the number of zeroes from a mere estimation of maximum output, then decided that this was unimportant and was just happy that nothing went wrong.

Once he was done, he decided to greet the scowling Arthas. "Rise and shine!" Shirou said in his normal speaking volume, but he did get his desired grunt of pain from the other teen.

"Not so loud..." Arthas tried to add more heat into his voice, but Shirou knew he couldn't. To add insult to injury, Shirou pulled open the curtains that was on a wall to the side right between their beds to let in the sun light. He was rewarded with loud groan of pain, and some curses.

Having dealt with a drunken Fuji-nee multiple times for a good long while back on Earth made him knew everything there is about hang over. Such as their painful sensitivity to sound and light, or the splitting head aches along with nausea. He knows how to make a quick fix for hang over, but he wasn't sure if there were any equivalent ingredients available for him here in Azeroth.

Which reminds him, he might want to find a bucket before Arthas decides to vomit all over the place.

Or maybe not. He was having too much fun tormenting Arthas. He does the same thing as a form of punishment when Fuji-nee couldn't restrain herself from going over board, thinking it was a good idea to over indulge on alcohol. He has been trying his best to teach her a lesson about the fact that 'drinking was bad' by driving it into her thick skull the hard way.

The lesson naturally failed, but he couldn't really do anything about it.

Deciding to be charitable, he closed the curtains and stepped closer to Arthas; Shirou could smell the alcohol on the other teen when across the room, and it took him some effort to not scrunch up his nose when it hit him harder due to the proximity.

"I am going to go find some food and water, and a bucket just in case. Stay here to rest alright?" Shirou gently whispered into Arthas's ears.

Arthas gave him an affirmative nod which quickly dissolved into a grunt of pain, probably aggravating his head ache.

Shirou left the room to make his way to the kitchen.

 _'Oh, now is a perfect opportunity to see what the cooking of this world could offer.'_ Shirou thought to himself as he closed the door behind him.

With a spring in his steps, he walked through the corridor, eager to learn more about the things in this world.

He made a decision last night before he went to sleep; that he would make the most out of all the things that has happened so far. Ultimately, he still wanted to become a Hero of Justice, and being here didn't make it harder; in fact, it made the goal seem much easier. Staying here is probably not that bad, right?

Accepting the fact that he would probably never see his friends again was very hard. But he now knew that 'mourning' for their loss wouldn't change anything at all, and if his friends were here they would actively encourage him to live this new life to the fullest.

Doesn't change the fact that it hurts like hell though. On the other hand, being 'encouraged' by Rin via Gandr Shots or Saber's Invisible Air would be much more painful.

But he is willing to try before he decides to fully drown himself in self-pity.

His mind was pulled back to the present as his sensitive nose picked up on the delicious smells in the air. Herbs, baked eggs, Roasted meat, Fruits, and a lot more that he wasn't bothering to identify.

Walking into the Kitchen, he saw that there were several other occupants in the room, sitting at the vacant tables and chairs eating breakfast. He ignored them and simply walked towards where the cooks wearing white chef hats were. One tended the furnace right in front of his view, and another was stirring a pot on the other side. He heard oil sizzling and saw a short... humanoid creature standing atop a stool with a frying pan in hand.

 _'Is that a Gnome?'_ Shirou wondered curiously. He saw a Dwarf last night, so he could clearly see the differences between them now that he actually understood what Arthas was talking about.

Even though the Dwarf was short, a Gnome was much shorter. Despite not seeing its face since the Gnome had its back to Shirou, he couldn't help but compare its size with a young human child. It would be more accurate to say that Dwarves look like short men who stopped growing taller, and that the Gnomes resembled over-sized babies.

He could feel the imaginary heavy smack on the head from his blushing inner Tohsaka Rin in response to that offensive statement. If she were actually here, Shirou would have guess that she is actually terribly amused, but found it too disrespectful to laugh outright, and decided to take it out on him instead.

The Gnome turned around just this instance, and saw Shirou staring at him with a strange expression on his face.

"Oh hello there! Do you want something specific to eat?" said the male Gnome.

Shirou was trying his best to not break down into giggles from the image that was presented before him.

He hadn't realized it before, but he now realized that the Gnome was wearing an over-sized Chef Hat (for a Gnome, probably standard size for a human with a big head). It flopped comically from each movement, and its big ears did not make things any easier. The big stool it stood on was contrasting by making the Gnome look even smaller, holding a frying pan with both hands projected the image of a child around 5 years old playing make-believe as a Chef. If Santa really existed and actually had elves, he would be wondering when did a Christmas Elf change into a chef outfit, leave the north pole and started to work in a Kitchen if he saw the Gnome now.

Shirou swallowed heavily to suppress his amusement before he replied.

"Do you have anything that could help with hang overs?" Shirou asked.

"Sure, just gimme a moment." And the Gnome hopped down the stool with practiced balance, not letting whatever content inside the frying pan fly out from the movement. It walked to a low table counter that was filled with eggs and sausages, and dumped more of them onto another plate.

"Do we have any more Detox?" The Gnome shouted to no one in particular.

"Check the shelves -" One of the cook shouted back, but realized his mistake quickly.

"Oh, right, sorry." But didn't say anymore since he was busy with his own duties.

The Gnome rolled his eyes, and turned around to face Shirou.

"You there! Check the shelf to my right and see if you can find a Detox for me." The Gnome pointed his finger to Shirou's right, and Shirou followed it to see the aforementioned shelf. It was indeed too tall for the Gnome to effectively search.

"Er... What is a Detox?" Shirou lamely admitted.

"WHAT!? You don't know what Detox is!? Its a 'Potion of Curing' you dimwit! You know, the Greenish Yellow liquid in a glass bottle that can cure most poisons?" The Gnome impatiently told him, and turned back to organize the food on the plates.

Having the necessary information, Shirou easily found the Potion, and gave it to the Gnome.

 _'So Alcohol is categorized as a Poison here?'_ Shirou inwardly nodded with more approval than he would have liked to admit.

He saw the Gnome unceremoniously dump the contents of the bottle into a plate of food after uncorking it, and held the plate out for him to take it.

Knowing how busy it could get inside the Kitchen, Shirou decided not to hog any more time from the Chef and grabbed the plate laced with the Potion.

He grabbed another plate, and filled it with some meat and fruits. "I sort of hate to ask it, but do you have a bucket?" Shirou asked the Gnome again.

The Gnome didn't say anything and just pointed a finger to where the door was, Shirou saw some empty buckets sitting right beside the door close to the wall. He grabbed two, filled one with water from a big canteen that had a sign that wrote 'Water' on it, leaving the other empty, then left the Kitchen.

Since he has at one point balanced 7 plates when walking out of the Kitchen back home, it wasn't too hard to juggle around two plates and two buckets. If it was one thing that he learned while doing part-time jobs, it was how to do different kinds of services like a pro.

Opening the door, he placed the food and bucket of water on the table in the room, then took the empty bucket to Arthas. Lightly tapping Arthas with the bucket, it seems he has made it just in time, as Arthas quickly quickly grabbed the empty bucket and hurled.

Shirou respectfully turned his head away, then proceeded to see if there are cups in the room for Arthas to drink from. He found two wooden mugs and scooped water, handing one silently to Arthas while sipping the other.

He heard Arthas rinse his mouth briefly, spewing it into the bucket of vomit once he was done, then gulp water down his throat loudly.

Handing over the plate of food tentatively, he witnessed a re-performance of Arthas the Food Demolisher from last day. Shirou was forced to concede to the fact that _'Yes, there is someone who has worse table manners than Fuji-nee in the world'_ , only to slap himself on the head to remind himself its not the same world anymore.

* * *

Arthas simply fell back asleep after he was done eating, and drank a bit more water. Shirou wasn't one who liked to disturb people's rest, so he decided that he would leave Arthas alone and go find something to do since he already filled his own stomach.

However, the moment he stepped out of the room, he almost collided with Uther that came from the blind spot on a turn. Both of their battle hardened instincts let them react quickly enough to narrowly avoid clashing into each other.

Shirou's dodge was much more clumsy than Uther's fluid motion as those instincts at the end are still copied product from EMIYA's memory and not quite his own. But hey, it was good to not get a face full of steel armor plates in the morning, even if he had to half roll into the ground to absorb some impact.

Quickly turning around to face the Master of the Order, Shirou quickly apologized. "I'm sorry! I didn't see you there!"

"Its alright, It was my fault as well." Uther replied Good-naturedly, reaching out a hand to pull the crouching Shirou back up.

They stared at each other in silence for a while, before Uther broke it.

"I'm sorry for dragging you up there without warning last night." started Uther earnestly.

"Don't worry, no harm done. It should be me apologizing when I wasted both of our time." Shirou said back, avoiding any direct eye contact with the older male.

"How is Arthas doing?" Uther asked with an exasperated sigh.

"I asked the Kitchen to make something for his hang over. He is sleeping peacefully right now." Shirou couldn't help but smile at the little 'rubbing salt in his injury' thing he did to Arthas right after he woke up.

"... Let me guess, judging from that cheeky smile of yours, you have teased him about it." And once again Shirou would have missed the slight smirk on the older male's face if he hadn't been around the stone faced Arturia. He wonders if there is anyone who can outdo her poker face in this world.

No, a face carved out of stone would definitely break apart when Arturia decides to put in her best efforts in keeping her face serious, so that wouldn't count.

"Maybe a little." Shirou admitted.

"I was friends with the lad's father; he was insufferable when drunk, but even more so while hung over." Uther recalled warmly, a grin that split his serious visage appeared on his face.

Shirou was kind of curious about Arthas's family, but since he figured that it wasn't really his business to know, he didn't ask further.

"What brings you here today, Sir Uther?" Shirou asked politely.

"I was just going to check up on my Squire, then look for you." Uther told him truthfully.

"Look for me? What for?" Shirou knew what Uther wants deep down inside, but went ahead and inquired anyway.

"To finish that chat we had from last night. I got the whole day emptied just for this; you seem very troubled and I just can't not try to help you." Shirou could see that Uther really meant well.

He shuffled awkwardly on the spot for a moment, before nodding his head. Uther once again lead Shirou up the stairs; but this time instead of stopping on the second floor, they kept on going until they got into the third floor.

Mentally updating his map of the castle inside his Unlimited Blade Works, he walked past the big hall along with Uther, who then pushed apart a pair of doors at the end of the hall open.

Inside the hall was a very spacious office, with a big work table, several chairs, shelves filled with books, and a rack of weapons as well as an empty mannequin. Shirou guess that the mannequin was used to store Uther's armor when he wasn't wearing it, and the majority of the weapons on the rack are hammers with two swords thrown into the mix.

His eyes zeroed on the weapons, and instinctively copied those weapons into his Reality Marble. Most of the hammers were of excellent quality, but no special characteristics. The 'Truesilver Champion', which was a shining sword with a long golden handle, however, was much more interesting.

 **Name: Truesilver Champion**

 **Owner: Uther the Lightbringer**

 **Type: Two-handed Sword**

 **Rank: C**

 **Quality: Rare**

 **Protects the wielder with a holy aura.**

 **...**

 _'That's strange.'_ Shirou thought to himself in confusion. The information he acquired through his structural analysis on the sword, gave him different set of numbers and values when compared to analyzing something from his world.

He reviewed the other hammers, and also found similar readings when analyzing them more closely. The Ranks were different to what he was used to as well. There were two more of them that were Rare.

By looking deeper into the Truesilver Champion, Shirou also found out that there seems to be a certain amount of... sentience? in the weapon. The sword has to at least acknowledge the person as their owner, otherwise the anti-theft function through magically binding itself to its owner wouldn't work.

But it seems Shirou has inadvertently stole it, whoops.

 _'Since the owner was noted as Uther the Lightbringer, would the anti-stealing function prevent me from using it?_ ' He began to simulate the tracing process in his mind to find out.

Judging the concept of creation

Hypothesizing the basic structure

Duplicating the composition material

Imitating the skill of its making

Sympathizing with the experience of its growth

Reproducing the accumulated years

Excelling every -

Oh hang on, he's stuck after Sympathizing with the experience of its growth. _'Dammit. Nifty anti-theft function there. If every Noble Phantasm on Earth had that, I would have been totally screwed.'_

 _'Hmm, what if I only partially sympathize its experience and the accumulated years?'_ Shirou thought to himself. _'If I make it so that it doesn't recognize Uther as its owner by leaving out certain parts of those years...'_

Partially sympathizing with the experience of its growth... Partially reproducing the accumulated years... Picking out the experience and years associated with Uther from a sea of other things. This was much harder to do than he thought it would be. It was not too dissimilar with trying to find a needle in a haystack, or finding usable spare parts in that junk yard he called Magus Workshop.

Moving on...

Excelling every manufacturing process.

 _'Aha!'_ Shirou wanted to whoop in triumph. And a personalized sword just popped into existence inside his Unlimited Blade Works.

But he will have to take time to get used to it, since there are blanks in its experience of growths and accumulated years, he will have to fill them somehow, even though he is not sure what sort of impact those holes will make. And because the concept of creation as well as the structure and materials were different from what he was familiar with and what expected, it will require lots of practice to be able to utilize it in a combat situation properly, mistakes on the field are usually fatal; that goes double with Magecraft.

He noted the other things he copied from Uther's personal weapon collection, and vowed to himself that he would try them as well.

"I see that you are interested in my weapons." Uther cut him off from his musings.

"Yes, I have always been interested in weapons, especially swords." Shirou replied truthfully.

"I used to fancy swords myself, but I prefer using hammers nowadays." And Uther tapped the gigantic two-handed mace placed on the ground leaning onto the work table.

Shirou quickly copied that as well, then physically staggered.

* * *

Uther was startled to see Shirou almost collapse to the ground when taking a glance at his hammer. But he didn't question any further when he saw Shirou right himself.

Shirou had a very pensive look on his face when he looked at Uther again. "I... I would like to tell you everything." Shirou started hesitantly.

"Everything?" Uther questioned confusedly.

"Yes. For one, I am someone not of this world." Shirou winced at his own words, it seems like that was not how he intended to word that fact.

Uther's wariness sky rocketed, though he was sure that he would get an explanation from the teen if he waited.

"Alright, that didn't really come out right... Anyway, I am someone from another world that is populated by Humans. To a normal human, Magic, Magical Creatures, Orcs, Gnomes, Goblins, Elves, or Dwarves do not exist." Shirou continued...

... And Uther simply listened to the youth, telling him everything he knew about his world. Things such as how humans have already abandoned 'ancient weapons' like Swords, Axes, Spears; using things called 'Guns' and 'Firearms' instead. Uther has already learned of 'Guns' from a Gnome before, and it was only an idea that has yet to even be developed. But from what Shirou is telling him, their 'modern' weapons can achieve horrible destruction with nothing but a finger twist on the trigger; tearing people up from the inside out with minimum effort.

It was fascinating to hear that 'science' has been able to do so much for Shirou's world. Science is a recent topic of research for the people of Azeroth as it is, first introduced by the Gnomes (or Goblins, depends on who you ask) exactly one decade ago, something that is still not popular enough for people to put any trust in it.

 _'Probably has something to do with how wonky the Gnome inventions are, and how Goblin products always tend to explode in one way or another.'_ Uther thought to himself. In other words, the reason that science is unpopular is not due to a lack of trying to become popular, but simple lack of appeal. Hot showers and water tap sounds like truly amazing inventions however.

Next up, Uther learned about the fact that Magic is almost non-existent in Shirou's world, how the number of people who knew it existed for certain, were a minority to the world. He would have laughed himself silly if it were not for the seriousness of Shirou's next words.

"Back in my world, people who found out that magic actually existed would either be brain washed into forgetting that it existed, or outright killed so they can never tell that secret to someone else." Shirou squirmed uncomfortably as he stated this. "It would not be the first time that entire settlements of people have been killed, simply to prevent more people from knowing that secret." Uther could see the fire of indignation burning in the youth's eyes, a look that did not fit on such a young face; he also noted the tightly clenched fists trembling in anger.

 _'Wiping out a town just to keep a secret? Seems much more counter-productive to me.'_ Uther mused. A whole town going poof in a single night would draw more attention in his opinion, but since it is possible to brain wash people, they might make them think that something else other than magic had happened.

"But if that is the case, then how do you know about the magic in your world?" Since Shirou is obviously standing right before him, and not six feet under, Uther can say for certain that Shirou knows enough magic to not be considered as someone that needs to be brain washed.

Shirou thought for a moment, and said "I am a Magus; someone who knows and practices Magecraft. Magecraft, in simple terms, are magics that can be replicated by ordinary means. For example, if I can make a fire with a spell, then I can also make a fire by collecting dry wood and lighting it."

"Most of the people who know magic are Magi who study different forms of Magecraft. There are also those very rare sorcerers that can use True Magic." Shirou continued.

"True Magic?" Uther asked in bemusement.

"Things that are normally impossible, like reviving the dead, time travel, dimension travel, and creation from nothingness." Shirou listed off.

"Well, accomplished followers of the Light can occasionally revive the dead, Archmages who study Arcane magic can warp time and open portals that can travel to other dimensions, and create food out of thin air."

"Magi back in my world are probably crying rivers right now." Shirou replied with a wry smile.

 _'Serves them right.'_ Uther didn't know it, but he and Shirou shared the same thought on that regard.

* * *

It was several hours past noon when an exhausted Shirou finally conceded to the fact that he has told Uther everything about his world.

And Uther was absolutely mind blown from everything he has heard so far. From the history of that world, to the technologies, cultures, and all the things in between; he is having a very hard time to grasp it.

"...And that's how I ended up here in this world." Shirou concluded.

But the one thing that Uther truly couldn't believe was the so called 'Holy Grail War' Shirou had participated in.

A malevolent magical artifact that could possibly destroy the world, destroyed by the combined efforts of several teenagers.

Uther could feel his respect for Shirou rise every second he narrated his story of the 'Fifth' Holy Grail War. ( _'Fifth!? That's not the first the Light-forsaken abomination of a death game has happened!?'_ he had thought to himself.) Of course, there were some parts that flew completely over his head.

But Uther was certain that having Shirou join the Order is probably one of his best decisions he has made yet. He could tell that Shirou has omitted lots of things, but he does not hold him against it since personal matters are always the most difficult when it comes to 'sharing your troubles', with someone you have only met for three days to boot.

Which reminds him...

"Why are you telling me all of this? I am someone you have only just met, and seeing how you described yourself to be someone extremely wary and paranoid, I don't see how I have garnered enough trust to know all of this. " Uther questioned.

"As you have already heard, I only know the most basic of basic when it comes to Magecraft." And Uther nodded from this statement. Shirou has told him that he only knew three basic spells and nothing else when it comes to magic. Uther applauded the youth inside his mind for being able to overcome such difficult trials with only three skills in his arsenal.

"One of them is called 'Structural Grasp', which allows me to analyze anything that I set my sights upon. I have mastered it to the degree that I can look 'deeper' into something, and see more conceptual things such as their history or origin." Shirou explained.

"And when I looked at your hammer... I saw lots of things..." _'That might have been better not seen.'_ Uther finished that sentence in his mind.

"So you decided that you can trust me after seeing my deeds by looking deeper into my hammer?" Uther asked.

"That is correct. I have managed to glean the fact that you are trustworthy and understanding. And since I can't do anything on my own in this world, I thought that I will just have to risk it." Shirou finished uncomfortably, probably because it was the very first time he has told someone everything about him.

"Then I shall do my best to prove that your trust is not misplaced. I will help you in anyway I can, all you have to do is ask." Uther offered sincerely.

"About that, wouldn't people find it strange that you are giving so much help to a total stranger that came out of nowhere?" Shirou questioned.

"Lad, I am a Paladin. Helping strangers simply because I can is what I do." Uther rolled his eyes in exasperation. Its the first time that Shirou has voiced this question, but it was not the first time Uther had heard it.

"But you do have a point. Are you saying that you want to join my Order so it will look less suspicious for me to help a recruit?"

"If that is alright with you -"

"That is more then alright." Uther smiled.

"And since you have been very forthcoming, I would like to tell you about why I wanted to have you join in the first place." Uther wanted to return the trust he has been given.

"When I first found you, you appeared with a flash of light, then spontaneously combusted." Uther said with a deadpan, and Shirou winced.

"By the time we managed to douse the fire, you were already covered head to toe by heavy burns. We weren't even sure you were going to make it; until a flash of golden light washed over your body, healing you until all of the burns disappeared." And Shirou nodded as if he had expected that to happen.

"So from that, I assumed that you have been blessed by The Light. And after confirming that you are indeed very powerful in terms of The Light -"

"Oh, so that's why you asked me out of the blue that night." This time it was Shirou's turn to deadpan. Uther smiled in response to that.

"Indeed. I have not seen someone as strong as you when it comes to The Light. You truly believe that the things you do are right, and you go out of your way to help everyone you can." Uther saw Shirou trying to say something - probably very self-derogatory - and decided to cut him off.

"Now, don't try to be humble. You did help destroy an artifact that could have destroyed the world, and by extension, save the world." Which made Shirou close his mouth with a snap.

* * *

Arthas was having a very bad day.

Its not really due to the hang over - which already subsided after eating something and falling asleep again. Physically he was better than fine.

But his mental state was a completely different matter. He felt ashamed.

His Father has always told him about the dangers of alcohol; how it makes people waggle their tongue, saying unnecessary things, or lose all sense of decorum turning into violent beasts. His sister has also told him in no uncertain terms that she detests all drunkards who are stupid enough to 'drink poison', and said that she would never talk to him again if she found out.

The way he treated Shirou last night was also out of the line. He is the Crown Prince of Lordaeron! He could have anything that he desired, so he shouldn't be feeling jealous over something as petty and unimportant as attention.

... right?

But he couldn't shake off the feeling of dissatisfaction and loneliness that is still gnawing at his own heart even now.

 _'I need to distract myself.'_ Sighing dejectedly, Arthas climbed out of bed and began to suit up in his armor.

 _'Report for duty, see if there is anything Master wants me to do, then hit the training yard.'_ Yes, that sounds like a good plan.

Thinking about his Master reminded him of a certain embarrassing name... Better not think back on it.

Once he finished with his armor, he grabbed his sheathed sword that was on standing aside the wall, and left room...

... before he was reminded of his own vomit in a bucket.

Opening the windows to refresh the air and taking the bucket this time, he dumped the bucket somewhere to the side in the gardens, placed the dirty bucket in the kitchen (getting an angry scowl in return from one of the helpers), then headed towards the third floor to see his master.

On his way there, he continued to ponder on the walking oddity that was Shirou. He has never seen anyone who was so... ignorant of EVERYTHING, even a child knows more about the world than Shirou does. And from what he have seen so far, Shirou is intelligent in his own way, so he doubts that being dumb would be the case.

 _'Maybe he lost his memories?'_ Arthas mused. It is a possibility, even if a slim one. Still a better explanation than labeling the guy as a retard.

He was sure that Shirou is hiding something though.

Not that he would pry; since he has his own secrets to worry about.

 _'Keeping my identity hidden was actually easier than I thought.'_ Arthas continued to walk to the stairs.

For some reason or another, people didn't seem to react to his last name despite it completely gave him away. He is not going to look a gift horse in the mouth though.

It felt refreshing to be treated like a normal human being, and not a porcelain puppet that is forced to dance to the tunes of others, while the ones who don't control you treat you as something that could break with a single touch.

After finally reaching the third floor, he was about to knock on the door when he could hear voices from the inside.

 _" -right, this should be everything."_ Arthas recognized his Master's voice, he could tell that his Master was in a very good moo.

 _"That's it?"_ there was Shirou's voice as well, with a lot of surprise and bewilderment.

 _"Aye, wouldn't be sensible if every recruit had to fill out twenty scroll's worth of documents just to join the order."_

 _'Join the Order?'_ Arthas could feel his confusion welling up from inside. No one has voiced their interest in joining them in Caer Darrow as far as he knew, and having heard from Shirou that he doesn't really want to join the Order, he was semi-confident that its probably not Shirou that is joining. Although Arthas was sure that given enough time and effort, he could persuade him to join.

Shirou turning around in just a day was not what he would expect, it mustn't have been an easy decision for the other teen. Heck, it wasn't an easy decision for himself since it took almost a whole month. Rustybeard had taught him how to fight like a Warrior, and he wanted to become an actual Warrior at first; not a Paladin. His Father has suggested him to become a Paladin since knowing magic would balance out his strengths and weaknesses, and Rustybeard reluctantly agreed to the King since he made a very good point. Warriors being vulnerable to magic is an iron hard fact that has often cost lives of brave men and women after all.

Plus, Varian said it wasn't a bad idea. He was not going to ignore the advice of his only friend.

... Even if it has been a long time since they've actually seen each other. How long has it been? 5 years give or take? It was really just mails and letters going back and forth, with the occasional added contents like gifts or odd and ends trinkets.

 _"Well, with that done; I will have Arthas take you to the armory to gear up once he's rested."_

 _'Aaaand *Poof* my semi-confident assumption goes.'_ Arthas thought sourly.

Figuring that its either now or never, Arthas knocked on the door.

* * *

Shirou was awkwardly holding onto several pieces of armor in his arms, while Arthas picked out more and more from a pile. They have produced a big pile discarded armor pieces on the side, and its growing steadily as Arthas continued to leaf through the remains.

"Not this one... definitely too big for you..." With another *Whoosh* and *Craaash, Clatter Clatter Clatter*, a discarded piece of armor that Shirou thought looked like a pauldron flew through the air and collided into the ever growing pile. How anyone would be able to find the matching pieces of armor in here is completely beyond him.

 _'This wasn't what I expected when they said_ gearing up _.'_ Shirou felt a sweat drop slide down on the back of his head.

Going through spare armor parts and throwing the ones you don't need callously through the air isn't exactly what he imagined when it comes to choosing armor. Not that he wanted to be picky, but he truly has no idea what to do when it comes to anything other than Swords, Cooking, and Archery in this world; even then, he was sure the knowledge would be limited.

Arthas was kind enough to help him out, but this is starting to get ridiculous, and that pile of discarded armor is growing more and more unstable, ready to collapse and make a big mess in any moment. Shirou has tried to warn Arthas repeatedly, but to no avail. At the very beginning when they started out on this, Shirou stood right behind Arthas, and had to continuously dodge flying armors coming his way; while also having to snatch some of those out of the air when Arthas said _"this/these will do"_.

Once he's arms were starting to get a bit full from all the armor they have collected so far, Shirou finally smartened up by stepping away from firing range.

As of now, Shirou is holding a matching pair of Greaves and Sabatons, a pair of fingered gauntlets (He wasn't sure how Arturia could grip a Sword properly with those mitten gauntlets, and was eternally thankful that people in this world don't seem to use those.), and a chest plate.

Arthas is trying to look for a helmet, some shoulder protecting gear (Pauldrons or Spaulders) as well as two leg guards (Cuisse) for him, to no luck.

Said teen was gazing on a helmet thoughtfully, pausing from his armor tossing frenzy.

Seeing his chance, Shirou promptly caught Arthas's attention.

"You know, that big pile of discarded armor might collapse and make a big mess if you don't stop anytime soon." Arthas turned 180 degrees around from that statement, then grimaced sheepishly at the sight of his master piece.

"I think we won't be able to scavenge anything out of here anyway." Arthas shrugged. The pile he was looking through being extremely small now, and even Shirou could tell that they won't be finding anything.

"Let's go to the smithy and see if anything is immediately available. If not, we will just have to commission and wait for it." Arthas said.

"Why didn't we commission for a full set then?" Shirou questioned.

"Armor isn't super expensive, but I doubt you have any money. Plus, Paladin armor are usually much more protective than normal armor, and the prices will stack up if you custom-order a full set, not to mention one of good quality." Arthas explained. "Usually, the Recruits of the Order save up until the day they are officially knighted and become Paladins, then go for a full set. Before that though, they just stick to whatever they can find that fits the criteria."

"I don't exactly need good quality -" Shirou began, but was cut off by Arthas who threw him a heated glare.

"Good protection can make the difference between life and death. Wearing bad armor have gotten people killed before."

 _'I kind of doubt I will need a full set of cumbersome armor though...'_ Shirou still didn't like the idea of wearing that much armor. Sure, EMIYA wore some, but it wasn't the same as covering your entire body with them. Arturia's battledress had quite a bit of armor, but from what she has told him, there are zero movement impairment involved since it was specifically designed for her and personally enchanted by Merlin, making the whole thing only slightly heavier than a feather. Lancer pretty much wore no actual armor at all. And Berserker had a body that was better than any armor that have ever existed. He was also certain that with the absence of Gaia, his reinforcement could possibly compensate for lack of protective gear by hardening his body. And his Unlimited Blade Works has **literally** turn his body into steel before, even if it had hurt like crazy back then.

So wearing movement confining armor would probably not be a good idea for him who focused more on speed than brute power. He might come to the conclusion that armor is not as constricting as he first thought it would be once he puts it on, but even then one cannot deny that it will change the way you move. Regardless, his adoptive father Kiritsugu has at one point told him that modern gear for soldiers are in truth, heavier than the armor people wore during medieval times; a firefighter full gear actually weights more.

Well, 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do' he supposes. Would be awfully suspicious if someone swung a weapon to his face, only to have it rebound as if hitting an immovable object.

Would be funny if someone tried to punch him in the face, only to hurt themselves more than him though. At least it would be worth it that way.

Both of them walked out of the armory, heading towards the town's smithy.

A cacophony of clattering crashes sounded off in the distance, and both teens cringed guiltily, hastening their steps to escape the corridor as soon as possible.

* * *

Shirou was in awe at the sight presented before him.

Granted, it was extremely hot and somewhat unpleasant, but he still couldn't move his eyes away.

A heavily muscled man was hammering a piece of glowing heated metal on the anvil, with another man pouring melted metals into a mold on the sides.

The walls were filled with weapons of all kinds, with racks holding more which couldn't be placed on the walls. Some barrel of weapons were there as well, and another section had nothing but armor on the shelves or wall.

Shirou desperately drank everything in with his eyes. His Unlimited Blade Works working quickly through every single piece of equipment in the forge. None of these were spectacular, but at least he knows that the quality this forge could produce doesn't need to be questioned.

Arthas was talking with an assistant that looked a bit younger than their age with brown hair at the counter. Probably an apprentice or just a helper, Shirou didn't really care. He vaguely heard the boy ask for his measurements, where Arthas handed them over on a piece of paper.

It felt slightly awkward to have Arthas measure him at first before they started looking through the armory, but it beats having a complete stranger doing it for him.

Hang on, Arthas kind of IS a stranger though; since he has only just met him these past few days.

 _'Bah, who cares...'_ Shirou rolled his eyes, and continued to look around the forge in awe.

Sure, he has seen how weapons were born by looking at their history of creation, but its still better by actually looking at the place with his own eyes. He had never imagined he would ever set foot in an actual forge. The smell of steel, iron and fire strangely made him feel invigorated. He couldn't help himself, and took a deep breath.

Everything about the forge was fascinating to him, and Shirou remembered that EMIYA had briefly learned blacksmithing, even if the actual memories and experience on that were not available to him.

 _'Well, it looks like I have found another hobby aside from cooking now.'_ Shirou thought to himself resolutely. Blacksmithing is something he would definitely want to learn, but unlike Magic, he knows that he can become good at it if given enough time and effort.

His attention was immediately drawn towards the smith who placed the hot glowing metal into a barrel of water when it produced a sizzling sound. His Unlimited Blade Works managing to capture the essential steps of blacksmithing from that brief glimpse before Shirou did something he had never tried to do before: forcing himself to forget something that the Reality Marble had copied.

Shirou wanted to learn everything properly, not just half-assing things by copying with his Reality Marble; he wants to become a master at blacksmithing by applying himself, so he was not going to allow himself to cheat like this.

He felt Arthas poking him out of his zone with a finger, so he turned to face him.

"Alright, we got everything we need now." Arthas dumped the stuff he had just bought for Shirou in the other teen's arms.

Shirou was slightly unbalanced from the sudden motion, and wobbled around dangerously with the pile of armor. But managed to steady himself.

"Do you know how to suit up?" He heard Arthas ask, and shook his head, only to realize that the pile of armor probably made it impossible for Arthas to see his head.

"No, I have absolutely no idea." Shirou sighed.

Arthas sighed, slightly annoyed. _'Who in the world does not know how to wear armor in this time and age? Even Priests and Mages knows how.'_ Heck, sometimes Arthas has to wonder how in the world to Priests and Mages wear those Light-be-damned-complicated robes! Hand him a good honest set of armor any day, since in his opinion, trying to wear one of those is harder than putting armor on.

Dragging Shirou roughly behind a screen in the forge - reserved for people who try on armor or measurements - he man handled Shirou as he began to clasp all the pieces on him.

Starting from his feet, Shirou stepped into the Sabatons that are more like the parts of steel toes on steel toed boots, as Arthas was busy clasping the greaves. The blonde teen then threw the codpiece - Oh was it awkward - to Shirou and told him to get it up or else they can't get started with the leg guards. Next was the padded shirt and chest plate, which Shirou found to be extremely annoying. Looping over every single hole on the Gambeson was extremely tedious, though Arthas seemed to be used to it since he was doing it much quicker than Shirou. A hauberk then was placed over the gambeson, and it went slightly past his waist. Attaching the chest plate, tightening the entire thing onto his body, and they moved to the arms and shoulders.

By that point, Shirou was feeling slightly weighed down by the entire ensemble.

The ordeal was finally over and done with after Arthas popped the helmet - a Barbute to be exact - onto Shirou's head after another few moments.

"Now all you need is the Tabard." Arthas remarked, and held his chin in his hands in a thoughtful expression.

He was rewarded with a long piece of cloth in the face, courtesy from the young smith assistant. Shirou couldn't suppress his laughter from Arthas's furious look and messed up golden locks of hair.

Shirou took his helmet off and gave a good scratch to his head. Wearing a helmet all the time now would probably be the hardest part for him to get used to. He never liked wearing hats or caps since it aggravated his head and made it itch like crazy, plus he likes to scratch his head, especially when he is nervous.

Arthas gave him a good slap on the head while he was distracted, and threw the tabard in his face this time. Shirou just looked at it once he untangled it from his head.

Blue was the dominant color scheme for humans in general it seems. The whole thing was almost entirely blue, only exceptions are the silver outlines and a silver colored enclosed fist with a cross on the background in the middle.

Arthas snatched it out of his hands, then shifted Shirou's pauldrons slightly so there was room for him to place the Tabard over his whole upper body. It draped all the way down to his knees. Arthas then threw him a weird belt.

Shirou studied the oddity that was presented to him. It was an armored belt where there was a big plate at where the buckle was supposed to be, and a few chains dangling on the sides as if to hook up something.

Seeing that Shirou was not going to wear it himself any time soon, Arthas once again snatched it, this time with another annoyed sigh, and looped it over Shirou's body, purposely tightening it more than he should, gaining an _'Urk!'_ out of Shirou for his troubles.

Shirou glared at the cheeky teen while slackening it slightly.

"All done! We just need to find you a weapon, and a tome." Arthas announced, then took a few steps back to give Shirou space.

Shirou moved his body, and twisted around, trying to get a feel on his new acquisition. To his surprise, it was less constrictive than he thought it would be, and although it was slightly heavy, he was sure he would get used to it if he has to wear it all the time now.

"Er... how do I look?" Shirou asked while still moving around, he was inspecting the silver and gold colored vambraces, and looking at his gauntlets.

"Like a true Paladin." Arthas stated with a grin, the assistant from earlier came around with a huge body mirror and Shirou finally caught the entire image he is going to present from now on.

The whole thing was now fitted tight and snug on Shirou's body, he has to hand it to Arthas. Finding anything at all in the Armory, not to mention stuff that was his size was really impressive.

The colors seem very similar to the set of armor that Arthas is currently wearing, but with more silver and white than blue. The Helmet effectively stopped anyone from seeing exactly how young he was, combining this with his taller-than-average height made him look older than 15 years old. In short, he looked somewhat imposing with all the white-gold and blue armor plus golden colored eyes. Experimentally, he threw his best glare into the mirror, and was rewarded with a bone chilling image that might be able to freeze any weak minded criminals on the spot.

He was not going to lie. He thinks he looks great.

Although he lamented slightly that he was not a muscular individual, as he seems to be thinner than Arthas, making him look a tad-bit more delicate than the other teen.

* * *

Uther watched his newest recruit spar with his young Squire inside the training yard, and found the sight to be slightly hilarious.

It is evident that Shirou has never wore any armor before, and was stumbling out of balance with almost every movement. While that is happening, the more experienced Arthas was trying to hit the teen by predicting where Shirou would move to, only to miss because Shirou did not go where he thought he would.

The image of two young and clumsy bears trying to dance around a camp fire came to mind, and Uther's grin grew a little bit bigger.

In Shirou's hands was his spare weapon: the Truesilver Champion. It was only reserved as a back up weapon in case his hammers weren't available anyway, and since he takes good care of his hammers (while also keeping them close at all times), it was unlikely the sword would ever see any use. So Uther just thought, 'Why not' and gave it to Shirou as a present.

Shirou's smile when he received it was enough reward for him anyway, and he felt his chest pulse slightly from a deed well done.

Shirou's motion speak of slight inexperience in using an actual weapon; the movements are smooth and seem alright, which means that he has had trained with practice weapons for some time, but its still not the same as the real deal. Uther started the trend with the Paladins training with full armor on since they kind of counted as weights, so he was certain that Shirou will need sometime to get used to everything; but the results would be promising. He could see it.

While the two youngsters were off looking for armor, Uther had another meeting with the other Masters discussing the movements of the Orcs. Scouts have reported sighting them around the area, and this made Uther uneasy as he voiced his suspicion to the others. Some Masters understood why he would think that they had a spy (or in worst case scenario, spies, in multiple terms.) while a few waved off his worries. The ones who agreed with him were the veterans like him who have participated in the First War, while the few who didn't were the ones who didn't.

Don't get him wrong, he is very strict when it comes to the requirements of becoming a Knight and Paladin, but he was even more so when choosing a Master that could help lead the Order. So those Masters did not gain their position with anything other than hard work, but sometimes experience simply couldn't be substituted.

Thankfully, with a majority vote, Uther has been able to urge everyone to double check the recruits under their responsibility, to see if there is anything strange going on. They will hopefully find out before things go completely south.

...

...

... _'Oh damn.'_ And Uther face palmed himself.

 _'I just jinxed it, didn't I?'_ he sighed in exasperation.

* * *

 _I am going to be moving away from where I live now, and I will need to start packing my things._

 _My computer included._

 _Which means, for a very long time, until I find a new place to live and all, I would have no computer available for me. So not updates! I estimate that it might take all the way until end of August for me to be back and ready._

 _Don't cry. I will still write with pens and pencils when I get a chance... and if I could manage to tolerate my own horrible hand writing._

Some people seem to be worried on whether or not this is a Harem fic. Well, it depends on your definition of a Harem fic. To me, a Harem fic is pretty much just having females (or males, if the protagonist is a female, or if the male protagonist is homosexual. I have no qualms against homosexuality so don't start any flames on that, I WILL be banning those.) throw themselves to the guy, and the guy ends up screwing all of them at once like a super stud horse.

Anyway, in short, I think multiple-romantic-relationship (that have each of them touching each other's heart, not just bodies) isn't counted as Harem.

I will just come clean and say that this is definitely not a Harem fic, and if for some reason or another it turns into a Harem fic, it would either mean I have completely gone bonkers or its not me writing this story anymore.

But remember: I don't think that multiple-romantic-relationship is counted as Harem. So don't be surprised if somehow Shirou gets multiple pairings in the future (although I have not planned for that to happen as of yet).


End file.
